Never Forget You
by SophiaTayler
Summary: With just being thirteen years-old, Sofia Grace Robbins-Torres had learned a lot in her life. She learned that you really can't take your life for granted, or you'll miss everything. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
1. First Day of Everyday

With just being thirteen years-old, Sofia Grace Robbins-Torres had learned a lot in her life. She learned that you really can't take your life for granted, or you'll miss everything. "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." Dr. Seuss said that. Ever since she was little her moms would read her Dr. Seuss every night before bed, and being the imaginative little kid that she was, well, still is, Sofia couldn't help but dream about everything she hoped to accomplish in the rest of her life. Everyone in her life were doctors, so of course Sofia couldn't help but wonder if she was good, or even smart enough to be like the grown ups she's grown to love and look up to. But as she thought about that quote from good old Dr. Seuss, she knew that all she had to do was live life.

So, just like everyday, Sofia Robbins- Torres stood outside in front of Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital after school just looking at the hospital thinking about if her doctors had a busy day today, if they had big surgeries right now, or if they were just enjoying eachothers company in the hospital cafeteria, or on-call room. As she smiled at the thought of all her doctors running around the hospital; Mark sneaks up behind his daughter and picks her quickly while tickling her. Sofia screams, but starts laughing immediately.

"Daaad!" She yells. "What are you doing!"

Mark smiles lovingly at his daughter as he sets her back down on her feet. "Well, I saw you just standing her so I'd thought I sneak up on you."

"Well, good job." Sofia laughs as she pushes her dad playfully. She starts looking around then back at her dad. "Did you forget Timothy at school again?" She asks, jokingly, but a little serious, too.

Mark rolls his eyes at his daughter. "That was one time! Are you and your moms ever going to let me live that down?" He asks.

"Well, considering I don't see your mini me on the side of you then I'm guessing it happened a second time." She points out.

"Ha. Ha. No, it didn't actually. I picked him up from school then I dropped him off at his friend's house if thats alright with you?" Mark asks her.

Sofia was the only girl in school who had three parents. And she was so happy that God chose her parents to be Callie, Arizona, and Mark. She knew that some kids that had gay parents only had the gay parents, but she knew she was special because she had her dad. What father, who gets a woman pregnant that is already in love with another woman, really sticks around for the pregnancy and growing up part? Mark did. Sofia loved how different she was. She also loved that her dad lived right down the road from them. Sofia remembered when they first moved into their first house. Mark insisted that it would be too lonely at the apartment complex without them there, so he bought a house right down the road from them. Callie and Arizona didn't mind though. And Sofia loved the fact that she could run out from her backyard to her dad's. It made everything so easy.

Sofia just shakes her head and laughs as she turns her head back to the hospital. "Do you know if my mothers are in surgery?"

Mark thinks for a second. "Uh, yeah, Arizona is, but I'm not so sure about Callie."

Sofia jumps in excitment. "K! Thanks, Dad. See you later!" She yells, running off to the entrance of the hospital.

Mark stood in his daughter's spot as he watched his little girl walk into his place of work. His little girl. Mark couldn't help but smile at those words. He never thought he would have a little girl to call his own. I mean, of course, he had Sloan, but he had her when she was practically an adult. He got to go through everything with Sofia even with her being in Callie's womb and all. He was there when she took her first breath, and he was there when she rolled over for the first time. Her first day of school, and he was the first person she showed her first A+ to. Sofia was a premature baby, which caused many issues in her life as she grew up. She was always last to figure out almost everything, but when she finally did, and she understood it, she was the most happiest and cutest kid around. So, when she finally understood that math equation and it gave her her first A+ she ran right into her dad's arms telling him all about it. Mark did not want his daughter to grow up, even though she was growing right before his eyes. His little girl. She will always be his little girl no matter what.

After checking the boards to see which OR her mommy was operating in. Sofia walks into the gallery and kneels down in front of the window. She smiles when she looks down and sees her mommy working hard. Arizona inspired her daughter so much through everything that she did. Sofia loved her Mommy's heart; her huge heart. She loved that when she was growing up her mommy taught her that being kind is the most amazing trait to have towards everyone. That smiling can make everyone else smile, and that crying can hurt, but it helps. Sofia loved that when her mom was having a bad day, or even when she was having a bad day, her mommy could find the good, or she could just wrap her arms around you and make you feel better just like that because she's just there. Her presence was magical. Her mommy was magical.

Arizona felt like someone was watching her, so when she looked up and noticed her beautiful daughter, her Callie look-a-like staring down at her; through her mask anyone could see the big bright smile Arizona had as she looked at her daughter. Sofia smiled back and gave her mommy a quick wave as she continued to watch her mommy do her magic. Arizona loved that little girl just as much as she loved her wife. Arizona remembered the very first time Sofia broke out of daycare. Her daughter knew her way around the hospital even at age three giving her parents and even the rest of the doctors heartattacks as they looked everywhere for little Sofia Robbins-Torres. Arizona was in the middle of surgery when Callie ran in telling her that their daughter was missing. Arizona started freaking out, but noticed a little figure in the corner of her eye, and when she looked up, she seen their daughter looking closely through the window. Callie followed Arizona's gaze and quickly ran out of the OR up to the gallery. When she reached Sofia, Callie quickly picked her up and hugged her tightly, but little Sofia just looked at her mom then pointed down to Arizona saying Mommy! Arizona never seen herself as a mother. Never. Until Sofia was born and she started that tiny little heart, now she couldn't see herself not being a mother.

Arizona walks out of the OR and meets her daughter, who is waiting patiently for her. "Hey, sweetie."

"Hi, Mommy!" Sofia hugs her mommy around her waist. "You did great!"

"Well, thank you, Sof. How was school?" Arizona asks.

Sofia shrugs. "It was school. Oh, and before you freak. Daddy did pick up Timothy, but he dropped him at a friends. He didn't forget him."

Arizona laughs. "Thanks for the update. Come on. Lets go meet Mom in the cafeteria." She says, putting her arm around Sofia as they walk towards the cafeteria.

"So, how is the kid? Will he be okay?" Sofia asks.

Arizona smiles softly down at her daughter. "It's going to be a long road ahead, but he will be okay." Arizona loved how concerned her daughter would be about the patients, even though she didn't know them. Callie and Arizona didn't quite want their kids to get close to any of their patients because they know the ending doesn't always come out the way they want it to, and then they'd have to deal with their broken hearts and their childrens. But when Sofia did manage to sneak into Peds looking for her mommy, she'd sometimes slip into a random patients room and make their day. Like Arizona, Sofia never talked at them, she talked with with them, and made sure they always knew what was going on by explaining their symptoms to not only their parents but to the kids, too. That's when Arizona knew that Sofia would make a great Peds surgeon, and even though she and Callie agreed not to push their kids to walk in their footsteps, Arizona secretly hoped that Sofia would.

Sofia nods in approval as they enter the cafeteria. When Sofia sees her mom sitting at one of the tables she hurries and runs over to her, with Arizona following closely behind. "Hey, Mom!" Sofia says, as she approaches her and sits directly on her lap. Callie laughs as she wraps her arms around her mini me and hugs her tightly. One good thing about Sofia being a premature baby was that at even thirteen years-old Sofia was able to sit on her mothers lap comfortable while they held her.

"Hey, baby. Where's Mommy?" Callie asks.

"Right here." Arizona says, as she kisses her wife on the lips.

"How was surgery?" Callie asks.

"Mommy rocked it!" Sofia answers for her mommy, as she takes some fruit from her mom's plate.

Callie and Arizona laugh. "I knew she would."

"There's Aunt Cristina! Be right back!" Sofia says, as she hurries to the other side of the cafeteria.

Callie shakes her head as she watches her daughter run to her Godmother. Who knew Cristina would be a good godmother to her daughter? She surely didn't, but Cristina proved her wrong. Sofia loved her, and Cristina loved Sofia, but then again everyone did. Callie loved how Sofia could get into everyone's hearts and how they would just light up when she's around them. Actually, it reminded her a lot Arizona. Arizona did that to her, she did that with her patients, and well, she pretty much did that with everyone. And if she could choose anyone for Sofia to end up like, it would definitely be her wife. She knew from the beginning that Arizona never wanted to be a mom. They did break-up and all because of it, but Arizona turned out to be an amazing mother. And Callie was so glad she chose Arizona to spend the rest of her life with.

As Sofia watched her parents talk and smile at eachother, she couldn't help but put her own smile on her face. Her moms were so in love it was actually some times sickening, but Sofia wouldn't have it any other way. A lot of her friends parents were getting divorced and just knowing that her moms had a love that nothing could destroy put warmth in her heart because she knew they would all be okay. Sofia looked at her mom's smile. It was actually similiar to hers which is why most of her aunts and uncles called her Little Torres. She didn't mind though. Just knowing that she had three great people who made her who she was today, she'd look and act like any of them anyday if it made them happy. Sofia didn't know what she'd do without any of them.

"Sofie-girl, you ready!" Sofia looks up at her moms as they stand up. "Lets get going."

Sofia nods her head at her mom before look at Cristina. "Bye, Aunt Cristina!"

"See ya, Little Torres."

Sofia runs over to her mothers. "Alright, Mija. Lets go pick up your brother and start dinner." Callie tells her.

Sofia smiles up at her mothers. "And I will be meet you at home in about an hour." Arizona tells them.

Callie and Arizona exchange kisses while Sofia heelies towards the door. Callie glares at her wife as Arizona just gives her a big white smile. "I hate those stupid shoes."

Arizona rolls her eyes as Callie runs to catch up with her daughter. "Mija, can we please ditched the rolling!" Sofia stops just as her mom runs into her and picks her up by her waist making her laugh. Arizona started laughing as well. These little moments made her so happy to be able to watch.

In the kitchen of the Robbins-Torres household, Callie is in the middle of cooking her famous spaghetti while Sofia sits at the counter as she writes her Science paper. Callie smiles when she hears her son run down the stairs calling her name. Arizona had her own little look-a-like and his name is Timothy Robbins-Torres. He was a little ball of eight year-old energy and a little boy any man would dream of having because Mark surely did. Timothy loved every sport you could possibly speak of. He was his mommy's twin, but his dad's best friend. Sofia didn't mind being a big sister because at least she was on the only girl.

"Mama, when is Mommy coming home!" He whines.

Suddenly the front door opens and in walks Arizona. "I'm right here." She says, setting her stuff on the ground so she could catch her son who ran straight into her arms.

"Mommy, I have to show you what I made you!" Timothy says in excitement as he runs upstairs to get what he made for his mommy. Arizona just laughs as walks over to Sofia, planting a kiss on her cheek, looking at what she was typing up.

"Ooh. Science paper." Arizona says, as Callie makes her way over for a kiss from her wife.

"Yeah. It's about how to a child's organs work. Will you read it when I'm finished?" Sofia asks.

Arizona smiles softly at her daughter. "Of course." Callie didn't know when the last time Sofia asked her to read a paper. But that's when she knew that Sofia was going to be a Peds Surgeon just like her mommy. Science wasn't her daughters favorite subject, but writing was, so Sofia would always make sure to write the best paper that she could for the subject her moms grew up to love. And even though Science wasn't Sofia's favorite subject, what amused Callie and Arizona the most was that Sofia understood everything about it. She understood what went where, why certain things worked, what made them work, but that was also probably because she grew up with Doctors all around her.

"I am going to go print this out!" Sofia says, hopping off the stool and running towards the stairs just as Timothy runs right past her.

"Mommy, I made this for you! I made Mama one, too, but I already gave it to her. This ones yours!" He says in excitment, handing over the picture he made to Arizona.

Arizona smiles as big as she could, showing off her deep dimples that Callie fell in love with. "I love it! You are very talented."

"Dad said that I'm going to be a plastic surgeon like him because I work well with my hands!" Timothy says, showing his mommy his tiny hands. Arizona gave Callie a nervous look while Callie couldn't help but laugh hysterically. Sometimes Mark just didn't know how to talk to kids, especially his own son.

"Well, I am going to put this in my locker at work so that I will see it just before I go to my surgeries."

"Awesome!" He yells, running back upstairs.

"Will Mark ever learn?" Arizona asks her wife as she walks over and puts her arms gently around Callie's waist.

Callie laughs. "I doubt it."

"Have I mention how much I love watching you cook?" Arizona whispers into Callie's ear.

Callie smirks as she turns to her wife and kisses her lips gently, just before it turns into a full on make out session in the kitchen, but gets interrupted with a knock on the door and Mark walking in. "And then Mark ruins it. What's up, Mark?"

"I need to talk to you two." Mark says. Callie and Arizona could both see the somber look Mark has on his face as he walks slowly into the kitchen.

"Mark, what's going on?" Callie asks, worriedly.

Mark walks over to the two women and sits down on the stool that's in front of them. "I don't really know how to say this. So, I'm just going to come out and say it because there's no looking passed it."

"You're scaring me, Mark. Spit it out." Callie says anxiously.

Mark looks down embarrassed. This was the last thing he ever thought he would have to go through, ever. And this was ever also the last thing he ever thought he would be saying to the mothers of his children. "I have cancer." He says, slowly.

Callie and Arizona were both speechless as their mouths were agaped in surprise. Mark having cancer? No, this was not happening. This was never suppose to happen. Ever. What were they going to tell Sofia and Timothy who admired their big old dad so much. They were going to be devastated.

"Cancer." Was all Callie managed to get out as she sat on the other stool in front of Arizona. Arizona puts her hands on Callie's shoulder to try to calm her.

"What kind of cancer, Mark?" Arizona finally asked.

Mark took in a deep breath. "Prostate."

"No." Callie cries.

"What are your chances?" Arizona asks. She surprisingly was being very calm about this. But she had to be strong right now for Callie's sake and for her children upstairs that were oblivious to what was going on with their parents.

Mark shakes his head, sadly. "Not good." Is all he says.

"Then you get a second opinion." Callie tells him, sternly.

Mark takes Callie's hand. "I did, Callie. I even got a third. It's not good."

Callie takes a deep breath and squeezes Mark's hand. The father of her children had cancer. It was hard to believe. It was hard to even think about. How were they going to tell Sofia and Timothy. Sofia is going to be devestated and Timothy isn't really going to understand except that his dad isn't going to be around anymore and he won't really understand why. "Cancer." Callie repeats to herself, but loud enough for anyone to hear her, even her daughter.

The three of them look up when they hear something crash to the ground. They turn towards the staircase to find Sofia standing there staring at them with a pale face, and the computer crashed at her feet. Mark smiles weakly at his daughter as she just stands there staring at him. "Sofia."

"Cancer?" She asks, quietly as tears streamed down her face. Callie and Arizona looked helplessly at their daughter. It was like time froze because neither one of them could move to console their baby girl. "Cancer?" Sofia repeats.

Mark finally stands up and walks over to Sofia. He kneels down in front of his daughter, on the stairs, and takes her hands into his. "Sof."

"Daddy." She cries.

Mark was lost of words. He was trying to find the right words to say to his daughter to make everything okay, but he knew there were no words. So, all he could do was reach up and wiped his daughter's tears before she finally collapse in his arms, holding him tightly around his neck with her small arms. Mark pulled Sofia in closer, picking her up with his strong arms, and bringing her into the living room. Callie and Arizona were still frozen, as they watched their daughter and her father cry into eachothers arms. This all just seemed so unreal.


	2. Been A Long Day

Last night was hard on everyone. Once Mark left, after Sofia had fell asleep on him, Callie and Arizona went to bed themselves with a lot on their mind. Wondering how they were going to fix Mark, wondering how they were going to save their kids from this tragic heartbreak, and just wondering how they were all going to get through this. It felt like they had just layed in bed because it was now morning and they were both laying in the same position, wide awake, and still thinking.

Arizona turns her head to look at Callie, who was staring up at the ceiling. She takes Callie's hand in hers which makes Callie look at her wife with a weak smile. "We will get through this." Arizona tells her softly.

"I know you like to think positive when it comes to these things, but Arizona, this is prostate. Sometimes this type of cancer can't be cured, and we don't even know how long Mark's been having this." Callie explains. "Our daughter is a complete mess, our son has no idea what is happening and why his sister cried herself to sleep last night into her father's chest, and I've been laying here trying to think of reasons for Mark to want to fight this. So, I can't be positive right now!"

Arizona sits up with a curious look on her face. "Do you have any idea why Mark doesn't have the urge to fight this? I mean our kids should be enough to want to fight it, but Mark suddenly has no interest."

Callie sits up and squints at her wife. "You don't think he knows, huh?"

Arizona sighs. "I don't know. But it would explain his lack in trying to save his own life."

"We'll talk to him at work." Callie says, lifting herself out of bed.

"We'll talk to him." Arizona agrees.

Callie looks behind Arizona at the clock on the nightstand. "We need to get the kids up."

"Ten bucks that Sofia is already up." Arizona says, hopping out of bed.

In Sofia's room; Sofia is laying in her bed the exact same way her mom was, staring up at the ceiling. She had a lot going through her head. Her dad had cancer. Sofia wasn't quite sure how she should react to this. Her whole life she had her dad. She always had her dad. Now she wasn't sure how much longer she was going to have her dad. What thirteen year old has to go through this? Oh, God. What eight year old has to go through this? Sofia instantly thought about her little brother. He was so innocent. He had no idea what was happening to their dad and she knew that in the end it was she who Timothy would be running to for answers. Not their moms. Not their other grown ups, but her. She was his sister. She, who had the same connection to Mark as Timothy did, would be the one her little brother would run to when he wanted answers and when he was missing their dad. But who was she going to run to?

Sofia's bedroom door opens and there stands Callie matching her daughter's sad face. Callie watches her daughter stare at the ceiling. She could read her daughter very well and right now she could just see Sofia's mind running all sorts of ways, like her own. "Hey, you're going to be late."

"I'll survive." Sofia laughs. "I'll survive. That's funny." Sofia throws her sheets off her body with her feet and gets out of bed.

"Sofia.." Callie walks over to Sofia and touches her shoulder.

Sofia pushes Callie's hand away and walks towards her bathroom. "Forget it." She says, slamming her door.

As much as Callie wanted to open that door and comfort her daughter, she knew Sofia needed her space. But inside that bathroom, Sofia was fighting hard not to run out and jump into her mom's arms and cry, but if she did that, then it would feel real. All too real.

In the kitchen; Arizona puts a plate of food in front of Timothy. Timothy looks down at his food, then up at his mother curiously. Arizona noticed this and leaned against the island to look at her son.

"Something wrong, buddy?" Arizona asks.

"What's wrong with Sofie?" He asks.

Arizona sighs. She knew this was going to come. Last night when Timothy walked downstairs to find his sister crying in her dad's lap, Arizona could tell by Timothy's face that he was pretty freaked out without having to say anything. But being the great brother that he is, Timothy just went back upstairs and hid in his room not saying a word to anyone. So, when Timothy asked this question, Arizona was ready to answer; considering she had all night to think about what to say to her son. "Well, buddy, I believe you are old enough to handle the truth."

"I am, Mommy!" Timothy assures her.

"Well, Sofia overheard something that was really bad. Something so bad that we are all pretty sad about it." Arizona explains.

"Like what?" Timothy asks, confused.

"Well, Daddy.." But before Arizona could finish the front door opens and Marks walks through.

"Daddy is here!" He says, with a big grin on his face.

"Dad!" Timothy shouts, as he jumps off the chair.

Arizona just looks at Mark confused. "What are you doing here, Mark?"

"Well, I thought I'd take my son here out for half the day."

Timothy's eyes buldge out in excitement. "Really!"

"Yeah. If it's okay with your moms." Mark tells him.

"Mommy, please! Please!" Timothy begs.

Just before Arizona could answer, Callie walks into the kitchen. "Mark, what are you doing here?"

"Daddy wants to take me out for a half day. Can I go! Pleassse?" Timothy begs again.

Mark looks at the two women with a small smile and a little determination in his eyes; pretty much pleading for them to let him. "I don't see why not." Callie tells them.

"Yes!" Timothy says, while bouncing in Mark's arms.

Everyone gets quiet once Sofia enters the room. She looks around at them weirdly then sits down on the stool that Timothy just left. "Mommy can you do my hair?" She asks Arizona, handing her a brush and some hair ties.

"Sure, baby."

"Hey, Sof. You want to come spend a half day with me and your brother?" Mark asks.

"No thanks." She says, not even looking at him.

"Alright. Well, I'll see you both at the hospital later." He says, walking out with Timothy.

Arizona and Callie exchange looks. "You hungry, Mija?" Callie asks as she grabs a plate.

"No." Sofia says. "Mommy.."

"Oh, right! The hair. Sorry." Arizona starts brushing Sofia's long wavy brown hair.

"Alright, well, I'm going to go get ready for work then Mommy and I will bring you to school, okay?" When Sofia doesn't respond Callie just sighs and runs upstairs to get ready for her day.

Arizona finishes up Sofia's last braid before putting her arms around her daughter and hugging her tightly. She gives her a gentle kiss on her cheek while a single tear falls down Sofia's face. Arizona didn't even have to say anything. Just being there was all Sofia needed. Sofia leans back into her Mommy's arms and just enjoys being safe for just a moment.

Down at the ice cream parlor; Mark and Timothy are sitting down eating their cones.

"I never had ice cream before school before." Timothy says, licking away at his ice cream.

Mark laughs. "Well, I figured we make today the first because you're my son and I love you."

"I love you, too." Timothy says, happily. "Did you ever do this with Sofia?"

Mark shakes his head. "Nah. This is a guy thing. Just you and me buddy."

"Cool!" They stayed quiet for a moment before Timothy decided to start up the conversation again. "Dad."

"Yeah, buddy."

"Why was Sofia crying last night?" He asks.

Mark sighs. "Well, son, something bad is kinda happening right now."

"Like what?"

Mark takes a deep breath before throwing his ice cream into the trash. "Lets go take a walk."

Outside the Junior High; Callie pulls up to the front.

"Alright, we are here." Arizona says putting on one of her flashy smiles for her daughter.

Sofia grabs her things and goes to get out, but Callie stops her. "Hey. We love you."

Sofia just gives them both a small smile before opening her door and walking out. Both women watch their daughter walk through the double doors of the school and for some reason they both couldn't take their eyes away even though Sofia was no longer there. "What do we do?" Callie asks, defeated.

"We just take it one day at a time. She'll come to us. She's just taking it all in right now and doesn't really know how to open up." Arizona explains.

"And Mark? What do we do about him? We can't just let him give up."

Arizona shakes her head as she takes her wife's hand. "We won't. We are going to be by his side through every step. We will make him fight even if he doesn't want to."

Callie lifts Arizona's hand and kisses it gently before driving away.

At the park; Mark and Timothy are walking hand in hand.

"Son, you know how mom and mommy and all your aunts and uncles fix people everyday that have major problems with their bodies?" Mark asks.

Timothy nods his head. "Yeah. You fix people, too, Dad."

"Yeah, I do." Mark and Timothy sit down on a bench. "But now I'm going to need someone to fix me." Mark says as he looks at his son.

Timothy looks up at his dad with a confused look on his face. "Why? Are you hurt?"

"I have cancer." Mark tells his son. Timothy turns away from his dad and stares straight ahead. He's heard about cancer before. He's been at the hospital plenty of times to see people with cancer, too. but now his dad has it. He wasn't sure what that meant now. "Buddy.."

"Are you going to die?" Timothy interrupts.

"I don't want to lie to you, Timmy."

Timothy just grabs his bag and stands up. "I want to go to school now." He says, walking away.

Mark watches his son. He knew it was going to be hard. This is not what he wanted for his family. This wasn't even what he wanted for himself, but he had to face the facts. He couldn't go the rest of his life lying to himself, and no telling how long that was actually going to be now.

At the hospital; Callie and Arizona are at the nurses station looking through charts when Mark walks up to them. Callie and Arizona both look up at Mark and give him a questioning look.

"Back so soon?" Callie asks.

Mark doesn't say anything. He just grabs a chart and pretends like he is reading. Arizona nudges Callie on her arm. "You told him!" She yells.

Callie pushes Arizona behind her so that she doesn't jump Mark. Mark puts down his chart and looks back up the women. "Yeah. I told him. He didn't take it too well." He says, walking away.

"Well, what did he tell you? What did he say?" Callie says, following Mark with Arizona right behind her. "Mark!"

"What!" He yells, stopping and turning towards them. He was angry. Not something they seen in Mark everyday. "What do you want me to tell you! That my eight year-old son was happy! He didn't say anything to me! He just wanted to go to school! My kids are angry with me. They are mad that their dad has cancer and there's nothing I can do about it!" Mark walks away leaving Callie and Arizona standing there watching Mark walk down the hall.

Callie and Arizona take eachothers hands "Talk to him." Arizona whispers to Callie. "He needs you."

Back in Peds; Arizona walks towards the nurses station just as one of the nurses hangs up the phone.

"Dr. Robbins?" Arizona looks up a the nurse and smiles. "Sofia's school just called. They are asking for either you or Dr. Torres to go down there to talk to the Principal."

Arizona looks confused, but thanks the nurse and pages Callie to let her know what she was doing. She was not going to let Callie go to the school with her because right now Mark needed her more. So, Arizona got her things and headed out of the hospital to be with her daughter.

In Mark Sloan's office; he was sitting there, quietly, just thinking, when Callie knocks lightly on the door and lets herself in.

"Mark?" Mark doesn't answer he just continues to look down at his hands. Callie walks up slowly towards him and notices what he has in his hands. Pictures of them and the kids. Callie smiles sadly and sits down in front of him. "They still love you. Your kids love you so much. They just never had to deal with this kind of thing before so they are scared. We are all scared, Mark. And it's okay for you to be scared, too."

"I'm not going to survive this, Torres." Mark tells her as he still looks down. "You and Blondie can't keep thinking everything is going to be okay. I'm dying. Get use to hearing it and you should also get use to saying it."

"Mark, you have to at least try procedures. You have to want to fight this!" Callie yells, broken hearted. "You have to want to fight this for Sofia and Timothy. They need their dad! Think about that! Get use to saying that!" Callie yells as she gets up and walks out; slamming the door behind her.

Mark takes a deep breath and wipes his eyes before his tears could fall. He looks down at his children in the pictures he was holding.

At the Junior High; Arizona is sitting in the Principals office. She wasn't sure why she was there or what Sofia possibly could have done to get her called down here. Sofia had never been in trouble before. Well, except for when she was five but that was because she kicked a little boy for kissing her and Callie and Arizona just couldn't be mad as much as the Principal was. Just as Arizona was looking back at their little girl, the Principal walks in.

"Mrs. Robbins, I'm so sorry to call you down here." She says.

"Is Sofia okay? Did she do something?" Arizona says trying to get strictly to the point of all this.

"No, Sofia is fine. It's kinda what Sofia was doing in class instead of her work."

"Was she zoning out? She does that a lot." Arizona tells her.

The Principal looks at Arizona with curiousity lingering in her eyes. "Has everything been okay at home?" She asks.

Arizona looks down, kinda embarrassed. She and Callie didn't think it was the schools business right now to know what was going on with Mark. They just found out themselves, but they also never thought about their kids bringing their issues to school either. "Her-her- her dad found out he has cancer." Arizona stutters. She never really said it out loud to anyone but Callie. It felt weird coming out of her mouth to someone else.

The Principal looks at Arizona with sympathy. "Well, that's what I was worried about. Sofia's teacher found her looking up different kinds of cancer, but specifically prostate."

Arizona was fighting back her tears. She knew Sofia probably had questions, but she figured she'd come to them when she was ready to talk about it. She never thought that she'd go and find them on her own. After the principal gave her sympathies; Arizona walks out of her office and comes face to face with her daughter. Sofia just looked so lost at that moment that all Arizona really wanted to do was take Sofia home and cuddle with her, but she couldn't. "Hey."

"Hi, Mommy." Sofia says, softly.

"Lets get out of here." Arizona says, grabbing Sofia's bag and her hand and leading her out of the building.

In the car; they both were both just staring out of the window. They haven't left the school yet because Arizona really wanted to talk to Sofia before they headed to the hospital.

"So, your teacher says you have been kinda zoning out in another direction during class." Arizona starts.

Sofia shrugs not making eye contact with her mom. "I just been looking up stuff."

"About your dad?" Arizona asks, even though she knew the answer. Sofia nods her head. "I know your curious, baby, but you could have came to me, mom, or even your dad."

Sofia looks at her mom. "Why? So, that you or Mom could tell me things I shouldn't know. I wanted to know everything. I want to know what daddy is going to be going through! I should know! I should know!" Sofia yells, as she starts to cry Arizona jumps over to the passenger seat and quickly puts her arms around her hysterical daughter.

"I know, baby. Shh. Breathe." Arizona says soothingly in her ear.

"I should know!" Sofia cries. She buries her head into Arizona's chest and just cries as Arizona holds her.

At the hospital; Arizona and Sofia walk into the hospital. This was the last place Sofia wanted to be right now considering she knew she'd be there a lot soon enough, but that's not what she wanted to think about right now. She just wanted to get away and try her best not to run into her dad. Arizona sees Callie at the nurses station.

"Hey, there's Mom." Arizona tells her. But before they could reach Callie Sofia stops her mom from moving.

"Can I just go roam the hospital while we wait for you and mom to get off please?" Sofia asks, with pleading eyes.

Arizona looks at her daughter weirdly. "Yeah, okay. Just keep your phone on you."

"Okay." Sofia says, as she hops onto her heelies and rolls passed her mom.

Callie looks twice when she sees long brown hair fly by, but then notices her wife walking over to her. "Hey. What's going on?"

Arizona looks up at Callie, sadly. "Our daughter was doing research on prostate cancer during class." Callie looks at Arizona with wide eyes. "Yeah, I had the same reaction. But Sofia wanted answers and she wanted to find them out on her own. I can't say that I blame her. I would probably do the same thing."

"Well, is she okay? Did she tell you anything?" Callie asks.

"She just had a minor breakdown in the car, but she's okay, for right now. She's just going to roam the hospital until we go home. How did things go with Mark?" Arizona asks.

"He's a pathetic excuse of a man!" Callie says, frustrasted as she begins to walk away. Arizona runs up behind her.

"But what happened?"

Callie rolls her eyes. "He thinks the kids hate him so he is pretty much hating himself right now. So, I don't even think he is going to try to save himself. I don't know what to do, Arizona."

Arizona takes Callie's hands into her own. "He will go through with all the procedures and we will help him through it."

"And how are we going to make him do it? He isn't listening to anyone. Not even me. ME!" Callie yells.

Arizona sighs. She wasn't sure what she was about to say was a good idea, but she had to do it. "I'll talk to him."

Callie gives Arizona a skeptic look. "You? You are going to talk to Mark? You hate Mark."

Arizona gives a small laugh. "I don't hate Mark. I don't necessary like him all that much, BUT he is the father of my kids. So, I'm going to talk to him." Arizona kisses Callie softly on her lips. "I'm going to talk to him." She says, before walking away.

In the cafeteria; Lexie is sitting at one of the tables when she sees Sofia roll by.

"Sofia!" Sofia stops and looks at Lexie. She gives her a small smile while she rolls over to her.

"Hey, Aunt Lexie." Sofia says, sitting down next to her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Lexie asks, curiously. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"I kinda got into some trouble, so Mommy came get me."

"Are you okay? Is everything okay?" Lexie asks, worriedly. She never known Sofia to get in trouble for anything so this worried her.

Sofia looks down, kinda embarrassed, then back up at her aunt. "My dad's going to die." She says, with tears in her eyes. "My dad's going to die, Aunt Lexie, and he doesn't want to do anything about it."

Without thinking twice, Lexie pulls Sofia into her arms and hugs her tight. Ever since Sofia was born and she started dating Mark, she couldn't help but also consider Sofia as one of her own. Lexie would do anything, just like everyone, for that little girl.

In the lab; Mark is working on a skin graph when Arizona pops her head in.

"Hey, you're working. That's good!" Arizona says, cheerfully.

Mark rolls his eyes, not looking up at Arizona. "I'm not crippled. I can still work."

"For now." Arizona says, nonchalantley as she walks into the room.

"Geez, thanks, Robbins." Mark says, sarcastically.

Arizona shrugs. "What? Did you want me to say that you're going to be healthy through this whole thing? I won't lie to you, Mark, and I sure as hell won't lie to those kids."

"I'm not asking you to."

"Yeah, but if you continue to act like this, then you're kinda giving me no choice. I mean do you really want Sofia and Timothy to watch you go through all of this and see their dad not do anything about it?" She asks.

Mark finally gives up on the skin graph and turns towards the mother of his children. "Arizona, there is nothing I can do. I'm in stage 4, so you can pretty much say that I'm dead already."

Arizona couldn't help but be disgusted at Mark. She never seen him give up on anything. He was actually the one always telling the kids not to give up, but now he was giving up on cancer. "You sad, sad man." She says.

"What?" Mark says, confused.

"Stage 4 is not the end. There's a lot of people in this hospital that have had stage 4 cancer and have come back from it. Must I remind you about Izzie Stevens? She had stage 4 cancer. She died, but she came back! Don't let your children watch you go through this and you not try to do anything about it."

"She's right, Mark." Lexie says, stepping into the room.

"Lexie."

"No, Mark. You should be thinking about your kids. It's not just you anymore. You have two beautiful children who just want their dad to live. And they need you to fight for them."

"There's surgery, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, and cryotherapy." Sofia says, joining them. Arizona and Mark look at their daughter with surprise. Mark was just shocked that she was even talking to him. "I did a lot of research and even though none of those things could help you, then at least you can say you tried. I don't hate you, Daddy. I just want you to try to fight this. Even if your survival rate is low, at least I can tell everyone that my dad tried everything he could to beat cancer just so that he could stay in my life."

Arizona smiles softly at her daughter who was staring hard at her father. She looked just like Callie at the moment with her strong words and putting her foot down because this is what she wanted. She just wanted her daddy to live and Arizona couldn't be more proud of her. Mark stares at his same green eyes in his daughter as she gives her dad one last look before walking away. And that's when Mark decided to fight this. Not for himself, but for his kids.

In the living room of Callie and Arizona's home; both women were sitting in their living room with each child in their arms. Sofia in Arizona's and Timothy in Callie's. Both were asleep after the long day they had. When Timothy got home that afternoon, they talked to him about what Mark told him before school, and all Timothy had to say was that he wanted his daddy to live. Just like they all wanted. Sofia didn't have much to say after they left the hospital, but Callie and Arizona assured her that if she had anymore questions that she should go to them, and they promised not to sugar coat anything, but to tell her the truth, giving her every detail possible. And after all that, the family made their way in the living room for a movie and relaxation time. Sofia crashed into her mommy's arms and rested her head onto Arizona's chest and instantly fell asleep. Timothy followed not too much longer. Callie and Arizona knew that things were about to get worse, and that they just needed to stick together. Callie grabs Arizona's free hand and kisses it gently with her mouth.

At the hospital; Mark is getting set up in his own room. Dr. Bailey is putting IVs in his arms and Lexie is taking his vitals. He takes a deep breath; looking straight ahead. For the first time, ever, he didn't have anything to say.

Day 1. 

* * *

><p>#RIP Uncle Manuel  This is for you.


	3. Heavy In Your Arms

It was an early morning in the Robbins-Torres household and everyone was up and ready to get going on their day, except for one person. Sofia drags herself downstairs, still in her pajamas, where Callie was making breakfast for everyone. Timothy was already sitting at the bar, waiting, while he read his comic book. Callie turns around and gives her daughter a confused look.

"Good morning, Mija. I thought Mommy washed your uniform." Callie watches Sofia sit at the bar, across from her brother, and exhaustingly rests her head on her hand. Callie puts a plate of food in front of Timothy.

"She did. I wanted to eat first." Sofia tells her mom.

Callie nods her head, understanding. She notices Sofia's eyes were drooping a little. "Did you sleep at all last night?" She asks, Sofia.

Sofia shakes her head. "Not really."

Callie grabs another plate of food and puts it in front of Sofia. "Well, eat up, Mija, or you're going to be late for school." Sofia nods her head and begins to take little bites from her food.

Arizona comes bouncing in from downstairs and smiles happily at her little family. As much as she was sad that Mark couldn't experience this every morning; she was so grateful that she could and was hoping that one day Mark would be able to again. "Good morning my beautiful family." She says, planting a kiss onto Timothy's head, then she makes her way over to her wife.

"You are extra chipper this morning." Callie points out. Arizona smiles lovingly at her wife.

"I'm just having a good morning." Arizona says, as she slaps her wife's butt, playfully. Callie smiles then nods her head towards Sofia's direction for her wife to look at. Arizona gives Callie a weird look before looking at their daughter. Sofia was slumping down, nearly going nose first into her food. Arizona walks over to Sofia and pushes the plate of food away before Sofia's face landed in it. She quickly puts her hand onto Sofia's forehead, feeling if she had any type of fever, while moving some hair behind Sofia's ear. She kisses Sofia on her cheek then looks at Callie who shrugs her shoulders. "Hey, baby, how'd you sleep?" Sofia just shrugs her shoulders and continues to rest her head on her hand.

"Can I go see daddy today?" Timothy asks.

Callie and Arizona look at eachother and Callie decides to answer. "Yeah, baby. We can go after school. I'm not exactly sure how his condition is going to be when you see him, but you're going to be very gentle with him, okay?"

"Okay, Momma." Timothy says. "Will Sofia be able to come to?"

"I don't see why not." Callie says. "Why?"

"Because she's sleeping." Timothy points out.

Callie and Arizona both look down at Sofia who's head is laying down on her arm and she was passed out. Callie chuckles at the sight of her sleeping daughter on the counter. Arizona rubs her daughter's back. "Babygirl." Arizona whispers into Sofia's ear.

Sofia's eyes fluttler open and then she realizes where she is. "Oh my gosh. I'm going to be late for school!" She freaks; jumping off the stool and starts to run to the stairs but Arizona catches her by the waist.

"Hold up, crazy girl!"

"Mommy, I have to go to school." Sofia says, looking up at Arizona.

"No, you don't." Callie tells her.

"Oh, thank God." Sofia says, slumping in Arizona's arms. She was tired and they could all tell no matter how hard Sofia tried hiding it. They knew she was up all night worried about Mark. They all were worried, but Sofia was taking it much much harder.

"Okay, Timmy, how about you go grab your bag and I will drop you off at school. Sofia, go get dressed because you will be going to the hospital with Mommy."

Sofia and Timothy both head upstairs while Callie and Arizona clean up the kitchen. "The hospital, Calliope?" Arizona questions.

"Look, we can't just leave her at home alone, and she can't go to school because she'll just be sleeping in class and that will cause them to give us another call to pick her up and we both have major surgeries today." Callie explains.

"And Mark?"

"When that comes we'll deal with it then."

"Ready!" Timothy yells, jumping the last step and landing in front of his parents.

"Okay. I will see you later." Callie says, kissing Arizona.

"Bye, Mommy!"

"Have a good day, baby." And with that Callie and Timothy leave the house leaving Arizona in the kitchen by herself. "What a good morning." She says to herself sarcastically.

At the hospital; Callie is standing in the doorway of Mark's room. He's sleeping and had been sleeping for awhile. Mark looked tired even in his sleep. He was pale and with all the meds being pumped into his system he looked sick. She wasn't sure how Sofia and Timothy were going to react to this. Their dad looked fine yesterday and now he was in a hospital bed looking like death. She breathes out a breath that didn't even know she was holding in when she feels a familiar touch on her back. Her wife.

"How's he doing?" Arizona asks from behind. Callie continues to look at Mark when she starts to asnwer.

"So far so good. He is going to be asleep for awhile though." Callie tells her. "Where's Sofia?"

"I put her in On-Call room 3 to sleep."

Callie finally makes eye contact with Arizona and smiles. "Did she fight you on it?"

"Did she ever!" Arizona says, frustrated. "I swear she gets more and more like you everyday. She fought me hard, Calliope. She wanted to come see Mark, but I had to force her into the On-Call room and literally had to stay with her until she was asleep. I thought I was going to have to bribe her!"

Callie laughs. "You hate bribing our kids."

"I know. I'm just so glad she was too tired to fight me anymore." Arizona tells her. "So, when did Bailey say he would wake up?"

"Not for awhile. Once he does then she'll let us know how it went."

"Wait. You didn't try to get anything out of her?" Arizona was confused. Usually Callie could get anything out of Bailey, but if Bailey was being this quiet about it then it probably isn't good news.

Callie shrugs. "You know Bailey. When she says later, she means later. You can't bribe Bailey either. Oh! I have surgery in thirty minutes." She says, looking at her watch. "I'll see you later."

"Okay.."Arizona says, but Callie was already down the hall. Arizona turns back into the room and looks at a sleeping Mark. "You better make it through this."

Later that day at the hospital Callie just finished her second surgery for that day. She didn't want to take on too much because she wanted to be there when Mark woke up. From hearing everyone talk; Mark was still sleeping. Bailey did tell her that he was going to be very tired after his surgery so he was going to be sleeping for quite some time, maybe even the whole day. So, Callie decided before going check up on Mark that she would check up on her daughter. Callie made her way to the On-Call room Arizona put Sofia in. When she opened the door she was standing in front of an empty bed. Sofia wasn't there. She really wanted to freak out right now but she knew that would get her no where, so, she frantically started looking around. Cristina was walking by when she seen Callie looking under numerous tables and rooms.

"Are you okay, Torres?"

"Um, I lost my daugher." She says, while still looking around. Cristina couldn't help but laugh, even though it wasn't funny to Callie. "Why are you laughing, Yang? Your god-daughter is missing and you're laughing at me."

"Because I know where she is."

Callie stops what she is doing because she was pretty sure she was looking like a crazy person looking under tables and chairs for her thirteen year-old daughter. "You do?"

"Yeah. She is sitting with Mark." Cristina says, like it's no big deal.

"How did she even know what room he was in?"

Cristina shrugs. "You're asking me to explain yours and Blondie's daughter?"

Callie quickly runs towards Mark's room, ignoring Cristina's question. When she gets there she stops at the doorway and sees Sofia sitting in a chair next to Mark. She was holding his hand and staring right at him. Like with her eyes she was asking him to wake up. Callie knew good and well that Sofia probably didn't sleep for long. She looked exhausted. Callie walks further into the room and goes to Sofia. She kneels down next to Sofia, putting her hands on her daughters knee and back. Not once did Sofia turn away from her dad.

"Why does he look like he is never going to wake up?" Sofia asks.

Callie could hear the shakiness in Sofia's voice and it broke her heart. "Baby, he's just sleeping. He'll wake up." Callie assures her.

"When?"

"Aunt Miranda said that his surgery was going to be very exhausting for him so he is probably going to sleep for a really long time." Callie explains.

"So, he could wake up tonight, right?"

Sofia finally turns to her mom and all Callie could see was hope in her daughter's eyes. "Yeah. He could." Callie answers. "Come on. Lets go get some food."

"I don't want to leave him."

"He'll be fine. I promise. When we're done I'll let you come back, okay?"

"Okay."

Sofia was hesitant about leaving her dad alone, but she took her mom's awaiting hand anyway and they left for the cafeteria.

While they were in the cafeteria; Sofia was picking at her food which was annoying Callie to no end.

"Sofia, please eat your food." Callie scolds.

"I'm not hungry."

"You barely ate your breakfast this morning. How are you going to tell me you're not hungry?" Callie asks.

"Momma." Sofia whines.

"How old are you again?" Callie asks half jokingly.

"Well, looky here. If it isn't my favorite niece!" Derek says as he walks over to their table.

"Hi, Uncle Derek." Usually Sofia was excited to see her Uncle but today just wasn't that day. She wasn't excited about anything lately.

Derek bends down on the side of Sofia and smiles his McDreamey smile at her. Callie couldn't help but smile, too. She was so happy that she was able to produce something that melted everyone's heart and brought everyone together. Her littler Sofia was already a little heartbreaker with a killer personality and a beautiful smile that no one could ever say no to. "And what are you doing out of school?" He asks.

Knowing Sofia wasn't going to answer, Callie decided to answer for her. "Someone didn't sleep last night so we decided to just take her here instead so she isn't falling asleep in class."

Derek nods, understanding. "Well, of course. You can't be a big time surgeon if you're falling asleep." He laughs. Derek stands up before kissing Sofia gently on her forehead. Before he could walk away, Callie stands up and makes sure Sofia couldn't hear them.

"Derek." Callie calls out, making Derek stop and turn back to her. "Can you please find out whatever you can from Bailey? She won't tell us anything until Mark wakes up and it's really starting to get to me, especially Sofia."

"Well, you know how Bailey is. No matter how close we are to her she can still keep a secret. But I really hope you won't be telling Sofia or Timothy for that matter especially if it's bad."

Callie shakes her head. "Of course not. At least not until Mark is stable enough to say something. I just want to be able to prepare myself when we tell Mark and the kids."

Derek puts his hand on Callie's shoulder. "I'll find out whatever I can."

"Thank you." She says, sincerely before going back to Sofia. Surprisingly, Sofia had ate most of her food, so she was glad she wasn't going to have to force it down her throat. Callie looks at her watch and notices that it's almost time for her to go and pick up Timothy from school. "Timothy is about to get off from school. Do you want to ride with me to go get him?" Callie asks.

"Can I please stay here? I promise I'll be good and I won't do anything stupid." Sofia begs.

Callie sighs. She knew Sofia wasn't going to want to leave. Which reminded her that tonight was going to be super hard to bring her home. She looks around the cafeteria to find a familiar face and when she does she runs over to them. "Meredith!" She yells, making Meredith jump.

"Callie? What's going on?"

"What are you doing right now, besides eating? Any big surgeries for the next two hours?" Callie asks.

Meredith looks at her watch and looks back up at Callie. "Nope. Why?"

"Can you please watch Sofia? I have to go pick up Timmy and she doesn't want to come with me. So, I need someone to stay with her."

"Sure. I'd love to."

"Thank you! Thank you! Oh and whatever you do please don't let her out of your sight. I really don't want her sitting in Mark's room all day." Callie turns around where Sofia is sitting. "Sofia, get over here!" She yells.

Sofia gets up and rolls her way over to them. Meredith started laughing to herself. As much as Sofia looked like Callie, she knew that during that time in Callie's womb, somehow God definitely took the time to put some of Arizona's personality into her. "Hey, Sofia."

"Hey, Aunt Meredith!" For the first time Callie seen some happiness in her daughter's eyes. What is was about Meredith that kids liked? She wasn't sure. But Meredith was a good mom to Zola, so that had to prove something. But Sofia just seen realness. Meredith never treated her like she was just a kid. She always told Sofia the truth. Kinda like Cristina was with her, too. Maybe that was why she was so close to the two.

"I will be back in a little bit. Please don't give your Aunt Mer a hard time." Callie pleads.

"We'll be fine." Meredith assures her. Callie kisses Sofia on her head before running off. "So, what would you like to do?"

Sofia looks up at her aunt and gives her small smile. "Does Aunt Cristina have any surgeries right now."

Meredith eyes the little girl suspiciously. "As a matter of fact, she does."

"Please?"

"Let's go, Little Torres." Meredith laughs.

That was there thing. Going up to the gallery and watching surgeries. Meredith did it as a child and since Sofia was a kid growing up in a hospital like Meredith was who could have not guessed that their favorite place would be in the gallery? Callie and Arizona never understood it but Sofia was glad to have something, just once, between herself and Meredith. So, with that, Meredith and Sofia made their way to the gallery to watch Cristina do a heart transplant. Cristina was now the Cardio-God, and she earned it. She was brilliant with her work and did everything perfectly. As much as Sofia thought hearts were pretty cool to watch, for some reason, her mind still went back to Peds. Being a kid, you kinda can't help but want to help other kids. And if she could do it just as great as her Mom could, then she'd do anything to be that.

Up in the gallery Meredith and Sofia were watching the surgery in content. They hadn't really said much to eachother, and it wasn't because they didn't want to they were just really into Cristina's surgery. Sofia loved watching her godmother work, but her mind, of course, was somewhere else. She knew Meredith had crappy relationships with her parents so she decided to ask Meredith something that she knew she would get a straight answer to.

"Aunt Mer?"

"Yeah?" Meredith says, without looking away from the window.

"Do you think my dad's going to die?" Sofia asks.

Meredith turns towards Sofia. She wasn't really expecting Sofia to come to her about Mark. But she knew the only reason why Sofia asked her was because Sofia knew she'd get the truth. Now, she didn't want to lie to Sofia, even though this was a really big thing, but truth was she didn't know what was going to happen. "I don't know, Sof. I hope not."

"Do you think he can fight it?"

"I hope so. I mean I watched Izzie Stevens beat stage 4 cancer. There's no reason why your dad can't. But some people are different."

"How different can Stage 4 cancer be?" Sofia asks, curiously. She did her research so she knew how bad prostate cancer could be if it got to stage 4, but that was just it. She ONLY read about prostate. Not about any other cancers.

"Very different." Meredith says, honestly. "Some people fight it differently, too. Some cancers can stick around for a long time just hanging out, and other cancers just want to get it over with. I know that sounds a bit harsh, but I also know you're looking for the truth. And I think you're old enough for the truth."

Sofia didn't like her Aunt's answer, but she was thankful for the honestly. She knew for sure she wouldn't get it from her moms, her dad, or even her other aunts and uncles. Sofia also couldn't help but feel even more scared for her dad. "Thanks, Aunt Meredith."

"Any time, kid." Meredith reaches out and pulls Sofia closer to her and they continue to watch Cristina's surgery in silence.

Callie was finally heading back to the hospital after a long fight with Timothy. He wanted to come to the hospital, but with all the homework they were giving eight year-olds lately, she couldn't let him. Plus, she really didn't want him hanging around there while Mark was still sleeping. It was bad enough that Sofia was still there. So, after a long hour of being called a liar and having a temper tantrum, Callie finally let the babysitter take over and Callie rushed out to head back to the hospital. When she arrived she searched all over for Meredith and Sofia, and of course she found them at the one place she was hoping they wouldn't go until she got back. Mark's room.

"Meredith, what the hell?" Callie exclaims.

Meredith takes a deep breath before explaining herself. "Callie, I'm sorry. I did all I could to keep her distracted. We went to two surgeries and I even tried bribing her with food, but after an hour she was restless and really wanted to get back to Mark. There was seriously no stopping her. I'm sorry."

Callie sighs and looks into the room where Sofia was the first time she found her. "It's okay. You tried. Thanks for watching her."

"Of course." Meredith says, before walking away.

Sofia was sitting in the same chair she was in before, in the same uncomfortable position she was in holding her father's hand as she waited for him to wake up. Before Callie could walk in, Bailey walked up to her. "Torres."

"Bailey. What's going on?" Callie asks, in hopes that Bailey would tell her what she's been wanting to know.

"Nothing. Just seeing how Sofia is doing. I heard she was around here." Bailey says, looking into Mark's room. "Why does your daughter look like she is about to fall over at any second?"

"Because she hasn't slept. She's so worried about her dad. So, with that, how about you tell me what's happening with Mark so that I can prepare myself to tell Sofia."

Bailey glares at Callie. "Torres, you know I can't say anything until Mark wakes up."

"And do you have any idea when that is going to be? He's been sleeping for quite awhile now." Callie reminds her.

Bailey nods her head, knowingly. "I know that. And like I told you..."

"..He's exhausted from the surgery. I know. I know. But that little girl in there does not want to leave his side. So, I need something, Bailey, and I need it like now." Callie begs.

"Okay." Bailey sighs. "I suggest you just go and sit with her." Callie gives her a confused look. "You don't have any more surgeries today. Go be with your daughter and wait for your daughter's father to wake up. He should be fully awake soon and when that happens then I will tell you everything. Okay?"

Callie rolls her eyes. "Yeah, okay. Fine." Callie turns back to her daughter and friend when Bailey walks away. Callie takes a deep breath wishing at that moment Arizona was off so that she could wait with them, but she couldn't be so she knew she was on her own to take care of their daughter right now. Callie, slowly, walks into the room and looks at her daughter's deep green eyes staring intently at her dad just begging him with her eyes to wake up. While Callie was looking at Sofia, she couldn't help but think where she could have possibly got her beautiful green eyes from. Callie had brown, Mark had blue, and even if they wanted to blame Arizona, they couldn't because had blue also. Her daughter was just unique. "Hey, baby."

"He squeezed my hand, but he's still hasn't opened his eyes." Sofia says, without looking up at her mother.

Callie takes a look at Mark, who was still in fact sleeping, and then she smiles softly at her daughter. "He knows you're here, babygirl. Aunt Miranda says he'll wake up soon."

"Not soon enough." Sofia huffs, sounding just like Callie.

Callie walks closer to Sofia and pats her back, signaling her to stand. "Up. Up." Sofia stands up and Callie sits in Sofia's spot, then pulls Sofia onto her lap, comfortably.

"What are we doing?" Sofia asks, confused.

"We are going to sit here and wait for your dad to wake up while you lay right here on my chest and close your eyes." Callie explains.

Sofia looks up at Callie. "I can't close my eyes, Momma. I want to be up when he opens his eyes."

Callie shakes her had, slightly, and rubs her fingers through her daughters hair, grateful at the fact that she was still so small to do this. "No. You are going to close your eyes. Don't you want to be rested when he wakes up?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Alright then my lovely daughter. You close your eyes and I will wake you when he opens his." Callie tells her.

"Fine." Sofia says giving up, sinking futher into her mother's arms and closing her eyes against her chest.

Callie smiles at her daughter's stubborness and kisses her softly on her forehead. She looks back up at Mark and prays that he wakes up before they had to go home, and she also prayed that he was fine.

An hour went by and Callie was still looking at Mark, while Sofia slept peacefully in her arms. Arizona walks in the door and sees her two girls sitting by Mark.

"Hey." She whispers. Callie looks up and smiles at her wife. She was so happy she was there to take some weight off her shoulders. "Still hasn't woke up?" She questions, looking at Mark.

"No. Not yet." Callie whispers back.

Arizona walks over towards them and brushes her fingers through Sofia's hair while kissing her gently, and then kissing her wife. "How long has she been out?"

"About an hour now. I swear she's a little demon when she wants to be." Callie jokes.

Arizona laughs. "Just like her mom."

"Hey!"

Arizona smiles. "Well, I'm done for the day. You ready?"

Callie shakes her head. "We can't leave." Arizona gives her weird look. "Sofia does not want to leave without knowing her dad is going to be awake and fine. I can't just leave and have her all pissed off, throwing her raging teenage hormones at me tomorrow. Not gonna happen!"

Arizona rolls her eyes. "Can you not yell?" Mark asks, hoarsely.

Callie and Arizona both look at eachother in surprise. "I'll go get Bailey." Arizona says quickly, walking out.

"You're awake." Callie says, happily.

Mark gives her a weak smile. "I am. How'd it go?"

"I don't know yet. Bailey wouldn't tell us anything until you woke up." Callie explains.

Mark looks down at the sleeping girl in Callie's arms. "Why does she look so worn out?"

Callie sighs and smiles down at her daughter. "She hasn't slept. She was up all night, so we brought her here to sleep, but then we just found her in here waiting for you to wake up. So, I finally talked her into sleeping while we both stayed in here. I promised I'd wake her up when you did."

Mark raises his hand weakly to stop Callie. "Not yet. Lets wait for Bailey." Callie nods her head just as Bailey and Arizona walk in.

"Glad to see you finally joined us." Bailey jokes.

Mark laughs, weakly. "So, what's happening with me, Bailey?" Bailey looks down. "That's not a face for good news."

"Yeah, what's with the face, Bailey?" Callie asks, as Arizona walks over to her. Callie manages to sit up, without waking Sofia, to hear the bad news that she knew was coming.

"Bailey?" Arizona also says, not taking the suspense much longer.

"Okay. Well, considering that you are in stage 4 of your cancer you know the risk and unfortunately those risk have actually manage to become worse than what we thought they would be."

"Meaning?" Callie asks.

"The cancer spread to other organs. We tried getting what we could out, but the extent of it is too much." Bailey explains.

Everyone's faces dropped after hearing that. "What now?" Mark asks.

"A lot of chemo and radiation is all I can say right now. Then eventually, hopefully, we'll be able to do another surgery."

Callie and Arizona look at Mark who looks back at them then back at his little girl. "Thanks, Bailey."

"That's it?" Callie questions. "Thanks, Bailey? That's all you have to say?"

"Callie.."

"No. Don't Callie me. Do you see this little girl in my arms? She's been waiting for her dad to wake up and to hear good news."

"There's no good news though, Torres." Mark reminds her.

"It doesn't matter. What are you going to do for her!" Callie asks, getting upset.

Mark takes a second and smiles at Callie, even though she was anything but smiles. "I'm going to do what I can and spend my time with my kids."

At that moment Callie was just happy that Sofia wasn't awake to hear this. Marks looks away and lets what Bailey said sink in. What he was going to tell Sofia and Timothy, he didn't know. But what they didn't know is that Sofia heard every word. She layed there in her mother's arms and held her breath. She couldn't believe what she heard. Her dad was going to die. 

* * *

><p>#RIP Uncle Manuel<p> 


	4. Hope A Little Harder

At the Robbins-Torres house; everyone was pretty much doing their own thing. Callie was cooking dinner, Timothy was playing with his toys, and Sofia was outside. Arizona was still working her 16 hour shift at the hospital so everyone was pretty much anxious to see her since she was going to be home at any moment now. While Callie was cutting up the vegetables, she looks out the window at her daughter who was kicking around her soccer ball. She had been doing that for the past two hours now. Callie was kinda confused on the concept of soccer. She knew you kick it with your feet and run, a lot, but she never understood why her daughter had so much passion for it. She was never into soccer and she knew for sure Arizona wasn't. But as Callie watched Sofia she could tell that she wasn't all that into what she was doing. As she stood there watching Sofia, Arizona walks in and tiredly drops her bags on the floor in front of the door.

"I will pick that up later." Arizona says, drained. She had back to back surgeries before she left so she was super tired and just wanted to lay and cuddle with her wife. But when Arizona noticed that Callie didn't even look her way she walked slowly towards her wife and looked out the window of what she was looking at. "What are we looking at?" She asks.

Callie smiles weakly at her wife before kissing her. Arizona smiles because Callie finally noticed her. "We are looking at Sofia."

"What's going on?"

Callie sighs. "She's been out there for awhile just kicking the ball back and forth and not really doing much else with it."

Arizona looks at her wife and frowns. "Ya do know that's really all you do in soccer, right?"

Callie rolls her eyes at her wife's sarcastic comment. "Duh and that you break bones, but that's not the point. The point is she's been doing that for over two hours now and she is usually doing tricks and whatever with the ball. She hasn't moved."

"Did something happen at school?" Arizona asks. Callie just shrugs. "Has she talked to Mark today?"

"Well, he called but she didn't want to talk to him." Callie tells her.

Arizona looks confused. "What do you mean she didn't want to talk to him? Just the other night she didn't want to leave his side and now she won't talk to him? I swear, that kid."

Breaking them out of their thoughts Timothy comes running downstairs. "Mommy! Momma!" He yells.

"Hey, little man. How was your day?" Arizona asks as Timothy goes and hugs his mom around her waist.

"It was fine, but I don't think Sofia had a good day." He tells his moms.

Callie looks away from the window and down at Timothy. "Why you say that? Did she tell you something?"

Timothy shakes his head. "But outside when we were waiting for Momma to come pick us up some kids were picking on her and she wasn't too happy."

Arizona and Callie exchange worried looks. They knew this day would come when their kids would get picked one but they also figured they would come to them when they were.

"What were they saying to your sister, Mijo?" Callie asks.

"They just said something about you and Mommy. Oh, and they said something about Dad being sick or whatever." He says, before running back upstairs.

"Let me talk to her." Arizona says. Callie just nods her head as her wife makes her way out of the sliding doors and into the backyard.

Arizona noticed that Sofia was kicking the soccer balls much harder than she was before and so she figured she'd better get to her fast before one of those soccer balls are aimed at her instead of the net. "Hey, Sofie-girl!" Arizona says, desperately trying to bring out her cheery voice instead of her worried one. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." She jokes.

Sofia kicks the soccer ball harder than before into the net making Arizona jump a little. "Hi, Mommy."

"How was school today?"

As Sofia was grabbing another ball she suddenly stops and glares at her mom. "Timothy told you." She says, not really asking because she knew the answer. Arizona starts to shake her head but Sofia stops her. "Don't even try to take up for him either."

"Okay then. Well, how about you tell me what happened?" Arizona asks.

Sofia throws down the soccer ball on the ground by her feet. "I don't want to talk about it." She says, angrily.

Arizona goes to stand in front of Sofia but quickly jumps out of the way as Sofia decides to kick the ball. "Okay, not talking about it isn't really an option right now. So, before you go to kicking the soccer ball into windows how about you just talk to me about what has you so mad."

Sofia glares at her mom, but Arizona could tell that her daughter wanted to cry. Whatever those kids said to her must have really stuck. "I know about Daddy." Sofia says, catching Arizona off guard. When did this become about Mark?

"What are you talking about, Sofia?"

"Don't act dumb, Mommy. You and Momma can't keep everything from me. Plus, when Aunt Miranda came to talk to you guys the other night, when Dad woke up, I heard everything. You all thought I was sleep, but I wasn't. Dad is going to die."

Arizona sighs. "We were just trying to get everything under control before we told you and your brother. I'm sorry."

Sofia kicks her third ball into the net then looks up at her mother. Arizona could see pain but she could also tell that Sofia was trying her hardest not to show it. "It doesn't matter." Sofia says, shrugging it off. "I have two moms already. Why do I need a third parent?" She asks, walking away to get the rest of her soccer balls. Arizona didn't know what to say. It actually scared her that Sofia even said that. But knowing she wasn't going to get anything else out of her daughter at this moment she decided to turn away and go back inside the house where Callie had been watching the entire time.

"What did she say!" Callie asks as soon as Arizona walks into the door.

Arizona looks up at Callie with concern in her eyes. "She knows about Mark."

Callie squints at Arizona, trying to figure out what she meant by that. "What do you mean she knows about Mark?"

"We thought she was sleeping when Bailey came to tell us about his surgery and she wasn't. She heard everything we said."

Callie puts her hands on her face in frustration. "Okay. Well, did she say anything about what the kids are saying at school?"

Arizona shakes her head. "No. She went straight to talking about Mark. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. Sofia is not just going to come out and say what's going on at school. We both know that."

"So, what we just let her keep going to school and let these kids wail on her?" Arizona asks.

Callie stares at Arizona. "Wait. They are hitting her?"

Arizona shakes her head slowly. "With their words."

"Arizona!"

"I'm just saying! Apparently, this whole Mark thing is getting to her more than what we thought it was. We need to figure something out."

Just before Callie can respond, the kitchen doors open and Sofia walks in. Callie and Arizona both stop talking and look at their daughter who stops walking and looks back at them. She gives them a weird look because they were both smiling awkwardly at her then she runs upstairs. Callie turns back to Arizona. "What are we going to do?"

In Callie and Arizona's room; they are having sex.

"So, this is what we do!" Arizona asks, out of breath.

Calliee kisses her wifes bare chest. "This is the only thing I could think of at moment. Plus you've been gone for over 16 hours. I missed you."

Arizona kisses Callie on her neck. "I missed you, too!"

Suddenly, their bedroom door opens and Sofia walks in. "Hey!"

"Sofia!" Arizona yells.

Sofia freezes up when she sees what her moms were in the middle of doing. "Oh my god!" She yells, covering her eyes and turning around, but walking straight in the closed door. "Oh my god." She repeats before finally being able to get out of her parents' room.

Callie couldn't help but laugh as soon as Sofia closed the door. "Callie, it's not funny!" Arizona says trying to scolds Callie, but, she, herself was trying not to laugh.

"Kinda is." Callies laughs. "Come on. Lets go see what she wanted." She says, pulling Arizona up with her.

In Sofia's room; Sofia is sitting on the floor staring up at her four walls when Arizona and Callie walk in.

"Hey, sweetie. I'm sorry you walked into that." Arizona apologizes.

"It's okay!" Sofia says, happily, catching Callie and Arizona off guard. She jumps up and runs over to Callie. "I want to paint my room! Can I please paint my room! Please! Please?" She begs, as she jumps up and down in front of Callie.

Callie looks over at Arizona who looked pretty confused because just a few hours ago their daughter was pissed off at the world. "What color do you want to paint it?"

"Purple!" Sofia say, excitingly.

Arizona sighs, in disappointment, while Callie smiles a big white smile. "I'm going to miss the pink." Arizona says, sadly.

"We'll go get the paint tomorrow!" Callie says, with the same excitment as her daughter.

Arizona just laughed at how much the two looked alike as they ran around the room jumping up and down. She was pretty disappointed with Sofia wanting to paint her room purple. It had been bright pink since she was born and now that she was in a dark place Sofia wanted her room to be dark. She frowned on Sofia having Callie's dark place right now. Purple room. Purple room was all Arizona could repeat.

Later that night after Arizona and Callie put their kids to sleep. They called Mark to see how things were doing and then they retreated back to their room to get some sleep themselves. Callie falls onto the bed in front of Arizona.

"Isn't it great that Sofia wants to paint her room purple?" Callie asks, smiling. Arizona rolls her eyes. "What? I've been waiting for this day forever."

"For Sofia to change the color of her room? Is pink that bad?" Arizona asks.

This time Callie rolls her eyes. "We painted her room that color when she was a baby only because you begged and begged. She loved it for a little bit, and now she wants a purple room. You can't be mad at her for it."

"I'm not mad at her. I'm mad at you for having purple as your favorite color and passing it down to our daughter."

This time Callie laughs. "You're insane." Callie crawls over to Arizona and takes her lotion out of her hand. She puts it down on the nightstand before looking back at her wife. "Now, my insane wife, can we please finish what we were doing earlier?" Callie begs.

Arizona reaches over and kisses her wife passionately as Callie throws the covers over them.

At the hospital; Callie walks into Mark's room as he is on his phone. He looks up and smiles at his best friend.

"Torres. What's going on?" He asks. Callie had never seen so much energy in Mark since he was admitted, but today he had crazy happy eyes and a big smile on his face when she walked in.

"Hey, Mark. How you feeling?" Callie asks.

Mark puts his phone down. "I'm feeling good today. I just got back from chemo but so far so good."

"Good. Good." Callie walks closer to Mark's bed.

"How's my kids?" He asks.

Callie chuckles as she thinks about what happened last night. "Sofia wants to paint her room purple."

Mark looks surprised. "Purple? What happened to 'I will always love pink because Mommy does?'" Mark laughs.

Callie sits down. "She turned thirteen and wanted a change. Our little girl is growing up, Mark, and there's not much we can do about it. Arizona and I are going get the paint after work and we'll surprise her when we pick her up from school."

"Tell me how that goes."

"Sure thing." Callie agrees. "So, did Bailey tell you anything else?" She asks, in all seriousness.

Mark sighs. "I'm going to find out in a few hours when my scans come in."

"I'm sure everything will be fine." Callie says taking Mark's hand, protectively.

Mark smiles at his best friend. Sure he was feeling fine right now but something was telling him that he wasn't going to feel too fine later. "Tell me about the hospital gossip. I don't hear too much anymore since they moved me into another room."

Callie smiles and starts to tell Mark all about her morning.

Callie had left Mark's room an hour later and was going meet Arizona in the lobby so that they could go pick up their kids from school and get started on Sofia's room.

"Torres! Torres!" Bailey yells running to catch up with Callie who is heading towards the elevator. "Callie!" Callie stomps her feet and stops walking.

"Bailey, I have to go pick up my kids because we are going home and painting Sofia's room purple. I need to go paint her room purple."

Bailey shakes her head confused. "Purple?"

"What. Do. You. Need?" Callie asks.

Bailey rolls her eyes. "Fine. Go paint your daughter's room purple so I can just go tell Mark first what his results are."

Callie eyes widen. "Results? You're going to tell me first?"

"If you want to prepare your children. Yeah, I think it's best."

"Wha-What do you mean prepare? Is he dying? What the hell, Bailey!" Callie was going into a panic.

"I can't tell you that it's good, but I will tell you he is not dying. Not yet anyway. The cancer has spread to pretty much all of his organs. Now, we can do all we can to keep Mark comfortable. We can also keep doing chemo and radiation." Bailey explains.

"What about surgery? I thought you were going to do surgery again."

"First I'm going to talk to Mark and see what he wants to do."

"Can that wait until tomorrow? Sofia has been in a dark place lately and last night she inturrupted my and Arizona's sex.." Bailey flaps her arms in digust. "..just to tell us that she wants to paint her room purple, and she's really excited about it! So, can I please make my daughter's night before I put her back into her dark place? Plus I really want to be there when you tell Mark. He's been going through a lot of things alone because we all work. So, I am saying I want to be there when you tell him." Callie says, exhaling.

Bailey sighs and nods her head before looking back up at Callie. "Go make your daughter's night."

Callie smiles slightly before heading into the elevator. Down in the lobby Callie walks out of the elevator to be met by Arizona.

"Hey, are you ready to go turn our daughter's pink room purple?" She says, somberly. Callie stops walking and looks into her wife's bright blue eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Mark is going die." She says, simply.

On the way to Sofia's school; Arizona and Callie are discussing what Bailey had told Callie earlier.

"You can't just come out and say it like that." Arizona tells her. "He can still make it."

"He's not going to make it, Arizona, and we have to tell him that tomorrow!" Arizona rolls her eyes as they pull up at the school. "And don't think you are getting out of tomorrow. You are going to come with me because I cannot do that alone. And we are not going to say anything to..."

"Sofia!" Arizona interrupts.

Callie looks at her wife like she is crazy. "Yeah, Sofia and Timothy."

"No! Calliope, Sofia!" Arizona says, pointing to Sofia who throws down her backpack and walks over to the two girls who were making fun of her.

"Oh, crap!" Callie yells, opening the door and jumping out. Arizona does the same but she stays on her side just looking. Callie walks inbetween her daughter and the two girls just in time. "What is going on here?" She asks, sternly.

Sofia picks up her backpack. "Nothing. Lets go." Sofia says, walking to the car, with Timothy following behind.

"I guess you're her mother." One of the girls snickers.

"Uh, yeah. I am. Do you have a problem with that?" Callie asks, annoyed.

Arizona hurries and runs over to the girls and Callie knowing that Callie would hit a little girl if she needed to. "Callie!"

"And there's the other one." The other girls whispers laughing.

Arizona runs over and grabs Callie. "What did you say?" Callie asks, stepping up in the girls face.

"Callie!" Arizona yells, pulling Callie away. "What is wrong with you? They are thirteen."

"Those girls were making fun of us and teasing our daughter, Arizona!." Callie explains, angry.

"Come on." Arizona says, dragging Callie to the car. When everyone gets in Arizona turns around and looks at Sofia. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Oh my gosh you got the paint!" She says, excitingly. Callie gives Arizona a worried look. "It's so pretty! Are we doing it today?"

"As soon as we get home!" Callie says, trying to match Sofia's excitment.

"Yes. You guys are awesome!" She says, jumping up and down in her seat.

Arizona looks at Callie sternly and shakes her head in disapprovement. The way Callie acted out there was inexcusable and the way their daughter is acting right now is inexcusable. Lying to them lately was not Sofia and now Arizona couldn't help but think that things were going to get worse after everyone found out about Mark.

After snacks; Arizona and Timothy settled at the kitchen table to start on his homework while Callie and Sofia get everything out of the garage that they need to paint. Earlier they already moved Sofia's things out of her room, so when they are finished and the paint is drying Sofia would have to sleep in her parents room, which she didn't mind at all since it's been a long time since she's done that and Arizona knew that Sofia needed them right now even if she wouldn't admit it. So, when Callie and Sofia walk back into the house and towards the stairs Timothy looks at Arizona with a confused look on his face.

"Mommy, why aren't we helping?" He asks.

Arizona smiles at her son. "Because my dear boy you have to do your homework which I know you are not going to want to do this weekend, and anyway Momma and Sofia can handle it."

"Or because your Mommy just doesn't want to watch Sofia's very pink room disappear." Callie jokes following Sofia upstairs.

Timothy turns back to Arizona, questioning her with his eyes. "Don't listen to her. Okay, lets start some math!" She says, sarcastically. Timothy rolls his eyes and starts his homework.

In Sofia's room; Callie is pouring the paint into the bend while Sofia looks around at her room that was pink for so long and was going to be changed into a whole brand new color. Callie looks up at her daughter and smiles.

"Changing your mind?" She asks.

Sofia looks back at her mom quickly and laughs. "No. I'm just taking it all in."

"Are you sure you want to do it, Mija? We don't have to."

"No, no! I want to! I want to! Is it ready?" She asks, hopefully.

Callie hands her a paint roller. "Yeap. Lets get this started!" She says, turning on the radio. Sofia starts laughing as she and her mom start rolling the purple paint over the pink walls while they dance. If you didn't think they were mother and daughter before then there was no way you would think that again after watching them dance. Sofia had her mother's dancing skills which kinda scared Arizona a little bit, and Mark, because that meant that even when Sofia didn't mean, to dance, or look the way she did when she danced, they all knew the boys would eventually be all over as she got older and started to fill in more.

Forty-five minutes went by and Sofia and Callie are still painting. It had been quiet for awhile as Callie worked on one wall and Sofia worked on the other right behind her. Those girls were still in the back of her mind and, frankly, it was still pissing Callie off. So, instead of finding those girls and breaking their little noses, Callie figured she'd try to talk to Sofia first before she went to that extreme.

"So, what was with those girls today?" Callie asks.

Sofia stops painting for a second. "I don't really want to talk about it." Callie turns around and looks at Sofia giving her the face that said she didn't believe a damn thing she was saying. Sofia could feel her mom staring at her so she turns around and is faced with her mom's big brown eyes staring at her. "What? I don't."

"Sofia Grace Sloan Robbins-Torres, I will not stand here and let you lie to me. I taught you better than that. Now, are you going to just go on for who knows how long with these girls picking on you or are you going to tell me why they are doing it?"

"Mom, we're painting." Callie puts the paint roller down. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I'm not painting anymore until you tell me what's been going on at school. So, I'm done." Callie says as she starts to walk out.

Sofia looks around her room, quickly, at the work they had done. They still had so much to do and she did not want to go to sleep to an unfinished room. "Alright. Fine!" Callie smirks before turning around. She kinks her eyebrows for Sofia to continue. "Those girls found out about dad and just have been saying that when Daddy dies then I'll be a freak for sure because now I'll have just two moms and no dad." She explains, looking down. Callie sighs and walks over to her daughter.

"They are wrong." She tells hers.

"I know. I just...I don't know."

"Baby, you can't listen to those girls. They are just being ignorant and you need to ignore them. Yeah, it'll be hard, but eventually they will get bored with it. But if you have anymore problems I need you to come and talk to me or your mom. Okay?" Callie says, sternly.

"And what if they don't stop? Can I break their nose!" Sofia asks with an evil smile.

Callie shakes her head, laughing. "You are way too good at that and no you will not break their nose because then they'll come to me and I'll have to refuse to fix it. I just want you to come and talk to me or mommy or maybe someone at school. Or, Sofia, just talk to them."

"Uh, yeah, that's never going to happen."

"They might surprise you." Callie tells her as Sofia rolls her eyes playfully. "So, can you promise me that you'll come to us whenever something is bothering you?"

Sofia takes a deep breath. She really didn't want to continue this conversation with her mom so she was willing to say whatever to get back to painting. "Yeah, sure. Now can we please finish my room before the sun comes up?" She pleads.

Callie chuckles and turns back around to her spot. "Alright, dramatic, let's get to it." Sofia jumps up and down before grabbing her paint roller again and spreading the purple onto the wall. She wasn't quite sure what made her say purple in the first place. Well, she always loved the color purple so she guessed she just needed a change in her life that she chose for herself since a lot of things were changing that she wasn't happy about. Callie and Sofia turn together to face their last pink wall. "The last pink wall. How you feeling about it?"

Sofia takes a deep breath as she stares at the wall. She had a lot of days and nights with this wall, well, with the color pink. When she was scared all she had to do was look at her walls and remember that her mommy was in the next room and that everything will be okay. It was like having her mommy's bright and cheerful smile with her all the time. "Lets keep it." Sofia tells her mom.

Callie does a double take at the wall and her daughter. "What?" She asks, confused. "You want to keep it pink?"

Sofia nods her head. "Yeah. I mean I always thought of Mommy when I looked at my pink walls, but now I have purple and I'll have a pink wall, too, so I'll think about you and Mommy now. Plus, she seemed really upset that I was getting rid of the pink, and I mean it doesn't look bad with the purple."

Callie smiles and looks down at her daughter. She rubs Sofia's cheek gently. "You're a sweet kid."

Sofia laughs as she and Callie fall to the floor in exhaustion. "I never want to paint ever again."

"It wasn't that bad." Callie jokes. Truth was she felt like she was getting too old to do this kind of stuff, even though she wasn't old at all.

They were silent for a few minutes just looking around the very purple and again pink room just before Sofia decided to break it. "Momma."

"Hm?"

"I think Daddy is going to be fine. I really do."

Callie's facial expression quickly changed from hearing that come out of her daughter's mouth. All this time she hadn't really heard anything from Sofia about her dad. She was just angry, but to hear that she thinks Mark is going to be fine broke her heart because she knew that he wouldn't be. Callie gently puts her arm around her daughter and pulls her closer to her. "I hope so, baby." She whispers in her daughter's ear before kissing her gently on her temple.

Outside the room they could hear footsteps coming closer; fast ones and slow ones. "Whooaaa!" Timothy says in amazement. "It's so purple!"

"You like it, buddy?" Callie asks, amused.

"Yeah! Mommy, you need to come see this." He tells Arizona.

Arizona walks by with her hand covering her eyes. "No thanks."

Sofia laughs and jumps up, running to Arizona. "Mommy, open your eyes." Sofia grabs Arizona's hand and brings her into the room while her eyes are still covered.

"It smells like too much purple." Arizona says, bitterly.

Callie laughs and stands up by her wife. "You might want to look at this, Arizona."

Arizona slowly puts her hand down and opens her eyes. She looks around the very purple room with a somber face, but tears start to develop in her eyes when she notices the very pink wall that was still painted in her favorite color. "Do you like it? I decided to keep it." Sofia tells her.

Arizona pulls Sofia into her arms and hugs her tightly. "I love it. You're an awesome kid, Sofia Robbins-Torres."

"You're pretty awesome, too."

"And the purple isn't that bad." Arizona says, finally giving in making Callie laugh while she leans in to put a gentle kiss on Arizona's cheek.

"Can I paint my room green!" Timothy asks, in a hopeful and excited tone of voice.

"NO!" All three girls say at the same time. One kid changing something she loved was enough; she was not going to let the other kid go the same route.

Later that night; Arizona and Callie are in their bedroom getting ready for bed while Sofia is in her own bathroom getting ready, too. Arizona is sitting on their bed putting lotion on whenever Callie comes out brushing her teeth.

"She thinks Mark is going to be okay!" Callie says in the middle of brushing. "Our daughter who has been negative through this whole thing paints her room purple and decides to think positive for the night. How can we just tell her that things aren't looking good at all?"

Arizona looks up at Callie. "You're dripping toothpaste on the floor, Calliope." Callie looks down at the floor and rolls her eyes before heading back into the bathroom. "And we don't have to tell her anything." Callie pokes her head out and looks at Arizona like she is crazy.

"What are you talking about, Arizona?"

"Look, we may not have to tell her anything. Mark needs to talk to his kids about his condition. We can only say so much to our kids and Mark needs to explain to them what's going on and we just need to be there for them." Arizona explains.

Callie walks out, without a toothbrush this time, and goes over to the bed. "I guess you're right. I just wish this didn't have to happen to them, to Mark, to us! I'm going to lose my best friend, Arizona." Callie says, tearing up. "I am going to lose him."

Arizona kisses Callie gently on her temple. "I know. But we will get through this. We will help Mark get through this and Sofia and Timothy. It's going to be very, very hard, but we will do this. I promise."

"I hope you're right." Callie says, wiping her eyes just in time to hear Sofia coming out of her room.

"Okay, parents, stop doing whatever you're doing that you don't want me to see because I'm coming in!" She yells, running into her parent's room and hopping right onto the bed in front of her parents.

"Very funny." Arizona says, sarcastically.

"Well, you two are freaks." Callie nudges Sofia playfully and she falls back onto Arizona laughing. "Can we go see Daddy tomorrow? Please? I want to tell him about my room."

Arizona and Callie exchange looks before turning back to Sofia. "Okay." Callie answers.

Sofia lays downs in the middle of her moms and sighs happily. This was the first she's felt happy in a long time and it probably was because of her purple and pink room but she didn't care. She was happy. "Momma, thanks for helping me paint my room."

"No problem, baby." Callie says, kissing her daughter on her cheek before laying down on the side of her.

Sofia looks over at Arizona. "And Mommy, thanks for letting me paint my room."

Arizona smiles sweetly at her daughter before kissing her on her other cheek. "You're welcome." She says, falling on the other side of her daughter. Sofia couldn't help but cuddle closer to Arizona as Callie and Arizona put their arms around their daughter's waist. They were going to enjoy this moment while they had it.

At the hospital; Callie walks into Mark's room to find him sitting up in bed with his regular clothes on and a bag that is packed with his stuff. She looks around confused.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

Mark looks up and smiles slightly at Callie. "I'm leaving."

"But why? You're not ready." She says, worriedly, stepping closer to her best friend.

"I'm ready, Callie."

Callie looked like she was going to breakdown at any moment. "You are not ready, Mark. Didn't Bailey tell you? You can't.."

"I'm leaving." Mark interrupts. "Callie, I'm leaving. I'm not dying in this hospital for my kids to sit and watch. I'm going home and spending all the time I can with them."

"But your treatments."

"I'll still come and get them. Callie, I know this is a lot.."

"A lot!" Callie yells. "Mark, do you think this is just happening to you and our kids! No! It's happening to me who you've known for over thirteen years. We've worked together and we've done stupid things together. We've had kids together! Arizona and I are at home taking care of our kids and walking around like you're completely fine, when you're not! We are telling them that everything is going to be okay, when it's not! Sofia had such hope in her eyes last night and for the first time, in days, she smiled. Well, I'm not going to be the one to take that smile away from her. You are!"

Before Mark could respond they both could hear little footsteps in the hallway. Then they hear Arizona yell to stop running and that's when they knew their kids were about to run into the room. Callie quickly wipes away her tears when Timothy and Sofia run in with Arizona closely behind.

"Daddy!" Timothy yells jumping onto the bed on the side of Mark.

"Timothy, be careful!" Arizona scolds.

"You're dressed, and you have a bag!" Timothy says, surprised. "Are you leaving!"

Mark smiles down at his son and wraps his arm around Timothy. "I am. I'm going home." Mark looks up at Sofia who was just standing there staring at her dad.

"Seriously?" She asks. And in that moment all Mark could see was hope in his daughter's eyes. The same hope Callie was screaming at him about, and he knew that soon he will be the one to make that hope disappear. Sofia's smiles a smile that Arizona and Callie hadn't seen in such a long time. Sofia runs straight into her dad's arms. Mark wraps his arms around both his children and laughs.

"I'm going home." He whispers. Callie and Arizona exchange unhappy looks at Mark. "I'm going home." He says, staring at the two women.


	5. Falling or Flying

Lexie Grey a.k.a Little Grey has been married to Mark Sloan for ten years now. When Sofia was just three years-old Lexie and Mark finally put aside their issues and realized that they were meant for eachother, so, they got married. No questions asked. No thinking it over. They went out and got married and have been happily married ever since. Now, how is this cancer affecting Lexie? It's actually affecting her more than what anyone thinks. For the past two weeks she's been going home by herself. She had been doing everything by herself. She goes home and sleeps alone, she eats alone, she goes places alone, and while she does all of that by herself she can't help but to cry. Lexie cries for Mark, cries for Sofia and Timothy, cries for Callie, and..she cries for herself, and now she was picking her husband up to watch him die.

Lexie walks into Mark's room where his kids and Callie and Arizona were standing around. "You ready to go, Mark?" Callie looks at Lexie, who just smiles nervously at her friend.

Sofia and Timothy jump down from the bed and run over to Callie and Arizona. "Can we please ride home with Daddy?" Sofia asks them. Arizona looks at Lexie then at Mark.

"Are you sure? You can just go over there tomorrow, Sof." Arizona tells her. Sofia looked up at her Mom's bright blue eyes, pleading with her green ones.

Lexie loved being a stepmom. Even though she wasn't too happy when Mark got Callie pregnant; when Sofia was born she actually grew to love the little girl. She didn't even mind when they asked for Mark to help out with the second baby, well, because he wasn't going to have sex with either of them to do so. Of course, she wanted kids of her own, but it never seemed like the right moment to have them. She was super close to Sofia and Timothy. Sofia didn't look at Lexie as her stepmom; she just looked at her as a friend. A friend that she could go to whenever she couldn't go to her moms or dad. Lexie loved her stepkids and would do anything for them even sharing time with Mark for his first time out of the hospital in weeks.

"It's not a problem. They miss their dad." Lexie tells the two women.

Mark stands up, smiling. "And tomorrow I can come by and see that new freshly painted room, Sof."

"Yes!" Sofia says happily, grabbing her dad's hand and helping him walk.

"Dad, do you think I can paint my room green at your house since Sofia painted hers because Momma and Mommy won't let me paint at theirs." Timothy asks. 

"No!" Callie and Arizona say at the same time.

"We'll see, buddy." Mark whispers, laughing, as he and the kids walk out.

Lexie turns to leave when Callie grabs her arm. "Lexie, are you sure he is ready for this?"

Lexie sighs and gives her friends a soft smile. "No. Not at all. But I'm not going to argue with him. He wants to be home and spend all he can with his family. I can't tell him no."

Arizona steps up and looks at Lexie in all seriousness in her eyes. "Lexie, are you okay?"

Lexie takes a moment and looks down the hallway at her husband and his kids. It was the first time since the new that she had actually seen Mark smile. She was just grateful that he was still walking and if those kids could make him do that, make him smile, then she didn't care. "I'll be fine." She tells Arizona before following her family down the hallway.

Callie was about to say something when she notices Bailey walking by. "Bailey!" She yells.

Bailey turns around and walks into the now empty room. "So, he really left?" She asks, looking around.

"Why didn't you wait for us?" Callie asks, upset. "I told you to wait so that we could tell him together!"

Bailey puts her hands out in defense. "Callie, I didn't tell him."

"Then how did he find out?" Arizona asks.

"He has a wife, ya know." Bailey says, sarcastically. "Lexie came to me and ask for the results. I can't tell her no."

"No, of course not." Arizona knew it was absurb to get an answer before Lexie. She should know everything before them. "But, you're just going to let him go home?"

"I can't make Sloan stay." Bailey shrugs. "Like I said before all we can do here is keep him comfortable, but I think being at his own home and being around his family is better than being in a hospital. Plus, he is still going to do all he can by coming here to do his chemo and radiation."

"Is he going to try surgery?" Callie asks.

"He hasn't gave me an answer." Bailey replies. "Why don't you go home and spend time with Mark. It's all we can do right now." And with that Bailey walks out of the room leaving the two women speechless.

"He's being selfish, you know?" Callie says to Arizona.

Arizona puts her arm around Callie and looks at her wife. "Lets go home." She says, walking them both out of the hospital room.

The next day; while the kids were in their rooms, Arizona and Callie were in the kitchen cleaning up when they hear their front door open.

"Anyone home?" Mark calls out.

"In here!" Arizona yells.

Mark walks into the kitchen. He was looking very thin these days, which is what cancer does, but Mark was looking majorly thin when he was usually looking very muscular. Callie could see him hurting to walk, but he still managed. The medicine they were giving him took a lot out of him, but if he was going to die then not walking was not an option right now. "Where's my kids?" He asks.

"Up in their rooms." Callie answers. "Where's your wife?"

"She got called in. 911." Mark tells her. "I came to see Sofia's new room."

"Well, before you go up there can we talk to you?" Callie asks.

"Sure." Mark says, taking a seat next to Arizona at the bar. "What's up?"

"Now, before you jump down my throat just listen to me." Callie starts. "Surgery.."

"I've thought about it." Mark interrupts.

Callie and Arizona exchange surprise looks at eachother. "Wha-what? You actually thought about it?" Callie asks.

"I did, and I'm not doing it." He tells them.

This time it was Arizona to get angry. "What do you mean you're not doing it? Did you even discuss this with Lexie before you made your decision?"

Mark takes a breath before explaining. "I have. And we both agree that surgery isn't the best option."

"But death is?" Callie asks in disgust.

"Callie, there is no guarantee that surgery will work. It's already spread to too many places. I'm not going through that." Mark tells her.

"You are ridiculous."

"Fine. I'm ridiculous. But you both are ridiculous to make me choose something that could possibly damage me more over my kids!" He says, standing up and going upstairs. 

Callie sits down next to Arizona in frustration. Arizona lets out the breath she was holding in. "He's right. We are making him choose."

"No, we are making him choose a longer life." Callie reminds her.

Arizona shakes her head. "No, Callie. The surgery could damage him even more than what he is now. He could be in a bed until he dies. He won't be able to do anything for himself possibly. We can't put Sofia and Timothy through that. We already have to make them be careful around him. If he does the surgery they won't be able to hug or play with their dad."

Callie had nothing to say. She knew that Arizona and Mark were right, but she just wanted her best friend to live. Yes, she was being selfish just like Mark, but she was being selfish for the right reasons. She wanted to help. She wanted her kids to have their dad. But now Callie figured she had to be like Lexie and just deal with it. Mark has cancer and it wasn't going away. They had to just deal with it. 

Upstairs; Sofia hadn't looked up from her book when Mark walked up to her door. He smiled when he seen that she kept a pink wall. His daughter was always thinking about other people. Mark knew that Arizona probably was not happy at all about Sofia wanting to paint her room, so not wanting to disappoint her mom Sofia kept one of the walls pink. He had to laugh because it was the one right behind her bed. Sofia was always a mommy's girl.

"The room looks great." He says, causing Sofia to look up at her dad. She smiles as she gets out of bed and walks over to him.

"You really like it?" She asks, hopefully.

Mark sits down on the edge of her bed while she sits next to him. "Are you kidding? I especially love the pink wall."

"Well, I couldn't just get rid of it all." She laughs. Mark nods understanding. "I have soccer tryouts Monday. Will you come watch?"

Mark looks at his daughter in surprise. "Really? You want me to go watch you?"

Sofia nods her head slowly as she looks up at her dad. "Well, Momma and Mommy have to work, so, they won't be able to make it. So, can you?"

"I rather be no where else." He smiles, causing Sofia to giggle.

Downstairs; the kids and Mark come down to the kitchen where Callie and Arizona are still cleaning up.

"Hey, where are you three off to?" Arizona asks.

"Daddy is taking us to the park." Timothy tells his moms.

Callie and Arizona both glare at Mark, who clearly ignores them. "Yeah, and then we are going to go have lunch with Lexie at the hospital since I have to go do some errands there anyway."

Callie looks at Mark suspiously. "Oh? What kind of errands?"

This time Mark glares at Callie. "I just have get some things straight with my patients."

"Oh, and don't worry about my soccer tryouts. Dad said he would come watch!" Sofia says, excitingly.

Callie and Arizona look at Mark confused. "Kids why don't you guys go wait for me in the car?" Mark asks.

Sofia and Timothy both nod their heads before heading out the front door. "Errands at the hospital?" Callie questions.

"Do you want me to get my medicine or what?" Mark asks. "If I have to do it this way then I will. Don't question me about it. Oh, and before you say something about me going to Sofia's tryouts let me just tell you that I'm going. I don't care what you have to say. I'm not going to miss anymore of my kids lives." Before he can let Callie and Arizona say anything he turns away and heads out the door.

Callie gives Arizona one of her 'what are we going to do looks'. "Look, by the time they get to the hospital we'll already be there and then we can check on him. Don't worry." Arizona tells Callie. Callie just takes a deep breath and rubs her fingers through her hair. This was all just stressing her out even more now that Mark seems like he could really give a crap right now.

At the park; Mark and the kids are sitting by the lake feeding the ducks.

"Dad, are you still sick?" Timothy asks.

Mark continues to look out at the lake while Sofia also turns towards her dad awaiting his answer. "I'll be okay."

"But you're not in the hospital anymore, so that means you're better than okay, right?"

Mark puts his arm around Timothy and smiles at him. "Yeah, I'm okay."

Sofia watched as her dad's face fell as soon as he answered her little brother's question. She knew that face. Sofia remembered when she was little and she did something bad in school her moms would wait a few hours before coming up with a punishment for her. Well, while she'd wait she would go to her dad for comfort as she waited for her moms, and when Sofia would ask her dad if he thought her punishment would be really really bad; he would simply give her that same look. The look of uncertainty and sadness.

At the hospital; Mark, Lexie, Sofia, and Timothy are sitting around the cafeteria table eating their lunch.

"So, did you both have fun at the park?" Lexie asks.

Sofia nods her head, smiling. "We fed the ducks and put our feet in the lake." Timothy answers.

"Very cool. Sofia, you okay?" Lexie asks. She noticed that Sofia wasn't eating much of her lunch and had been pretty quiet since they sat down.

Sofia looks up at her stepmom with a confused look. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking that's all."

"Care to tell us what about?" Mark chimes in.

Sofia shakes her head, shrugging. "It's nothing. Just thinking about my tryouts tomorrow. I don't want to screw anything up."

"You screw something up?" Mark says, in surprise. "You're the best soccer player I know."

"Daaad." Sofia says, embarrassed.

"He's right." Lexie agrees and she smiles at her step-daughter.

Mark laughs as he looks down at his watch. "Alright. I have to go check on my patients, so that I can sign them off to someone else while I'm on leave. You two will stay with Lexie for an hour until I get done. Okay?"

"Okay." Timothy answers.

"Sofia?"

"Yeah, Dad. Okay."

"Alright. See you two in a bit." He says, getting up and kissing both his kids and Lexie on their heads.

"So, who wants to watch a surgery?" Lexie asks in excitement.

Sofia knew that Lexie was probably just trying to keep them from seeing something she didn't want them to see, and Sofia was pretty sure her dad wasn't going check on patients since he had been in the hospital for a long time and hadn't had any since he was admitted. "Lexie, I need to go to the bathroom. I'll meet you in the gallery."

"Gallery 1." Lexie tells her as she grabs Timothy's hand before they walk away.

Sofia watches Lexie and Timothy walk further away before turning away in hopes of finding exactly what no one wants them to see.

On his way to the chemotherapy room Mark ends up running into Derek.

"Hey, man. What are you doing here?" Derek asks. "I thought you were on leave."

"Just came to check on some patients of mine, Derek." Mark says, trying to move passed Derek, but Derek wasn't moving.

"Patients? I thought you sent them to other doctors before you were admitted?"

Mark sighs, knowing he was caught and also knowing he couldn't keep this from his best friend. "I'm going get my meds, Derek. Sofia and Timothy are with Lexie right now so if you happen to run into them don't mention that you seen me."

Derek gives Mark a stern and confused look. "You never told your kids, Mark?"

"Tell them what? That I may not be here in a couple months, maybe sooner than that. No, Derek, I haven't told my kids. Damn. Your starting to sound like Callie and Arizona." He says, annoyed.

"Well, then maybe you should listen to us. You can probably keep this a secret from Timothy, but we all know that Sofia is way too smart for her own good and she is going to figure things out. You all aren't that great at being quiet about anything." Derek reminds him.

"Just don't say anything. Please." Mark begs.

Derek looks into Mark's pleading eyes before closing his own and sighing. "Fine. I won't say anything."

"Thank you." Mark says, walking away.

Derek and Mark had been friends since they were kids. Just thinking about his friend dying was hard enough for Derek, but he knew that it would be harder for Mark's kids, so he had to be strong. He had to keep a straight face when he was around them. It was hard, but it was something he had to do for not only them but for Mark, too.

Sofia was wandering around the hospital to find her dad and was hoping not to run into her mothers. She knew that they would be mad, even Lexie would be mad, if they knew that she snuck off and didn't really go to the bathroom. But it was something she had to do since her parents weren't telling her anything. While she was trying to act like a ninja through the hallway, without looking where she was going, she ran straight into Alex Karev making her jump as high as she possibly could.

"Are you hiding from someone?" Alex asks, smirking at his niece.

Sofia tried hard not to rat herself out, so she quickly stands straight looking at her Uncle Alex. "Nope. I'm just walking around."

"So, where are you headed?" He asks, knowing good and well she was definitely trying not to get caught.

Sofia looks around trying to make up somewhere she was going, but then she sees a bathroom and decides to stick to the original plan. "To the bathroom. Yeah, I was going to the bathroom." She points to the door behind Alex.

"Well, then I guess you better get going before you get into more trouble than I bet you already are." He says, winking down at her.

Sofia grins before walking around Alex and towards the bathroom. "Thanks, Uncle A." She says, beforing walking in.

Alex just shakes his head and continues down the hall.

Up in Gallery 1; Lexie and Timothy are watching Miranda Bailey take out some guy's appendix. This was an everyday surgery it seemed and not so gruesome that Timothy couldn't watch, so, Lexie thought it was the best one to watch. It had been twenty minutes since they been up there and she was starting to wonder where Sofia was.

"Sofia did say she was going to the bathroom right, Tim?" Lexie asks the eight year old.

TImothy nods her head without turning away from the window. "Yeah." He answers.

"It's been twenty minutes and the bathroom is just down the hall." Lexie says more to herself as she looks at her watch. "Okay, come on, Timothy. Let's go find your sister."

"Aw, Lexie. Aunt Miranda was just about to take it out!" He whines.

"I will make it up to you. Now, come on." Lexie says, grabbing the little boy's hand. Just as they reach the stairs they run into Arizona. "Oh, Arizona. Hey."

"Hey, Lex."

"Hey, Mommy! We were just about to watch Aunt Miranda take out a guy's appendix!" He says, excitingly. "But now we have to go find Sofia."

Lexie tried to cover Timothy's mouth but she was too late. Arizona was already looking at her with concern. "Sofia's missing?" She asks.

Lexie shakes her head nervously. "She, uh, just went to the bathroom." Lexie tells Arizona.

Arizona eyes Lexie suspiciously. "And how long has she been gone?"

"Uh, not long." Lexie laughs nervously.

Timothy looks up at Lexie with a weird look on his face. "You said twenty minutes, Lexie."

Arizona's eyes widen after hearing this. "Twenty minutes? Lexie!"

"What? We all know she can't be far. Sofia knows this hospital better than we do. I'll find her." Lexie says, confidently.

"Yeah. You better because if Callie finds out she is going to go crazy."

"Okay. Come on, Timothy!" Lexie quickly grabs Timothy's hand again and pulls him with her as they run down the hallway.

Arizona couldn't help but laugh and shake her head. She knew her daughter wasn't far, but watching Lexie freak out was pretty funny and entertaining to watch.

In the Onocology wing; Sofia wasn't sure what made her go to this side of the building, but something was telling her she needed to. As she walked through the halls she'd looked into various rooms and seen sick kids and sick adults. Sofia wasn't sure how her moms could handle dealing with this kind of stuff on an everyday basis. Seeing kids with no hair because that was the side affects of the chemo and radiation really broke Sofia's heart. Whenever she came to visit her dad she never really looked into the rooms or took a good look at the other sick people around there. Sofia knew she wanted to be some kind of doctor, but definitely not the doctor who had to deal with this sad stuff everyday. But now as Sofia was walking further down the halls she stopped when she noticed her dad in one of the rooms. She looked around and seen that other people were sitting in the same chairs with IV's in their arms. As she walked further into the room, she seen that her dad was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. So, she was right. Things weren't okay. Mark was still sick. Sofia wanted to yell and scream at her dad, but she knew it wouldn't get them anywhere. He would still be sick, so, she just stepped closer to him and pulled out a chair before sitting right beside him. Mark still hadn't opened his eyes so Sofia wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not, but she took in a deep breath and picked up her small hand, compared to his, and placed it into her dad's. When Mark felt someone grab his hand, he quickly opened his eyes and looked straight into big bright green eyes. His daughter's.

"Sofia, what are you doing here?" Mark asks, confused.

Sofia looked up at her dad's blue tired eyes. "Does it hurt?" She asks, ignoring his question.

Mark shakes his head, slowly. "Not really. Now answer my question. What are you doing here?"

Sofia shrugs her shoulders, sheepishly. "I watched a bunch of appendectomies." She jokes.

Mark glares at his daughter. "Not funny. Lexie is probably freaking out right now and you know how dramatic she can be."

"I know, I know. But I'm not stupid Dad, and I'm not Timothy. I know when you guys are trying to distract us and I know when you are telling secrets. Did you really think you could keep this from me?"

Marks sighs. He knew this was going to happen sooner or later. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't. I was just roaming the hospital and some how ended up here. I seen you through the window and I'm guessing you could use a hand to hold." Sofia tells him.

Mark couldn't help but smile at how much Sofia was reminding him of Callie at that moment. "Of course." He says, holding onto Sofia's hand tighter than he already was.

Down at the nurses station; Lexie and Timothy are talking to the nurses about Sofia when Callie walks up to them.

"Hey, guys."

"Momma!" Timothy yells happily as he hugs Callie around her waist.

"Hey, baby. What are you doing and where's your sister?" Callie asks, looking behind the two for Sofia.

"That's what we're trying to find out." Timothy tells her.

Lexie didn't even have the energy to stop Timothy from talking. She had looked everywhere for Sofia, but she was no where to be found. "Uh, where's my daughter, Lexie? Please tell me you didn't lose her."

Lexie looks up at Callie, tiredly. "I didn't lose her."

"Then where is she?" Callie asks, waving her hands where Sofia should be standing.

"Okay, I lost her. She was suppose to be going to the bathroom but she never returned after."

"What!" Callie yells. "Why didn't you page me!"

"Arizona told me not to worry you." Lexie explains.

Suddenly, without warning, Arizona pops up. "Hey, guys." She says, cheerfully.

Callie gives Arizona angry eyes. "Uh oh." Timothy whispers. He knew that look better than anyone.

"You told Lexie not to page me?"

Arizona looks around the little group and notices her daughter was still no where in sight. "You still haven't found Sofia!" She exclaims.

Lexie closes her eyes before answering. "No."

"Callie, I thought Sofia would come back. She usually always does." Arizona explains.

"Then any idea where she could be?"

"What is with all the yelling?" Alex asks while walking up.

All of them turn to the young doctor. "Sofia is missing." Lexie informs him.

Alex shakes his head. "No, she's not. I just seen her not too long ago."

"Where!" Callie asks.

"She was walking down the oncology wing." He says like it's no big deal.

The three women look at eachother trying to think about why Sofia would go down that way, but then it dawns on them. "Mark." They say in unison before running towards the oncology wing.

"So, that medicine goes right into your blood?" Sofia asks, as she looks at the tubes.

Mark follows her eyes before turning back to his daughter. "Yeap."

Sofia nods her head understanding. "So, how long will you have to do this?"

"Um, for as long as I need to. I don't want to scare you and your brother, Sof, but things may not be looking good."

"May not or aren't looking good at all?" Sofia asks.

"Like I said I don't want to lie to you."

Not wanting to go further into it, Sofia just accepts that and continues to hold her dad's hand. Outside the room though Callie, Arizona, and Lexie run in front of the door causing Sofia and Mark to look up. "Sofia, thank God." Lexie says, breathing out in relief.

"I'm sorry, Lexie." Sofia says, softly.

The three women walk closer to the two with sad eyes. "How in the world did you know that your dad was here?" Arizona asks.

Sofia shrugs. "Lucky guess."

Callie quickly rubs her fingers through Sofia's long brown hair while kissing her gently on her forehead. "Baby, you cannot run away like that without telling someone where you are going. Got it?"

"I didn't know where I was going. I just wanted to find dad." Sofia tells her moms. "I'm sorry."

Arizona bends down to Sofia's level and looks into her daughter's sad eyes. She knew this had to be hard for Sofia to sit down and watch, but she surely wasn't showing it. "Do you have any questions?" She asks.

Sofia looks at her dad who gives her a soft smile, then back at her mom. "Not right now." She says, shaking her head.

"Where's Timothy? Please don't tell me you lost him, too." Mark jokes.

Lexie rolls her eyes at her husbands humor. "Not funny. He's with Alex."

"Can I just stay here until he's finished? Please?" Sofia begs her moms.

Callie looks at Mark who nods his head. "Yeah, okay."

Callie, Arizona, and Lexie slowly make their way out of the room and close the door, but they stood behind it watching father and daughter hold hands. It was a scary and special thing that was happening right now. Everyone was just so glad it was finally out in the open, well, to Sofia, now they just had to all sit down and explain everything to Timothy which was probably going to be harder considering he was only eight.

Later that night; Sofia is sitting on the side of Arizona, on the couch, resting her head on her mom's chest while Arizona wraps her arm around her daughter protectively. After the chemo, Mark had suddenly grown really tired so Lexie took him home and the kids stayed with Callie and Arizona until they got off work. Sofia hadn't said much since her dad left. So, as soon as they got home, Timothy went to bed, and Sofia, Arizona, and Callie all changed into their pj's before settling on the couch. Callie joins them with a cup of coffee for herself and Arizona, and sits down on the other side of Sofia.

"Mija, you haven't said a word since the hospital. You okay?" Callie asks.

Sofia just shrugs and falls deeper into Arizona's side, which didn't go unnoticed by the two women. "I could have handled it." She says.

Arizona and Callie shared confused looks at eachother. "What do you mean, Sof?" Arizona asks.

"Dad's going to die. I know that now. You guys should have told me."

Callie takes her daughter's hand. "We didn't want to worry you if we didn't have to yet."

"I want to be there when you tell Timothy. He's going to need me there." Sofia tells her mothers.

Arizona nods her head and kisses Sofia on her forehead. "We'd have it no other way. He will need his sister."

Sofia just nods her head against her mom's chest before wrapping her small arms around Arizona's waist. Callie and Arizona both knew this was going to be hard, but now it's going to be getting much harder.


	6. So Hard To Breathe

It had been two weeks since Sofia found out about Mark doing chemotherapy, and in those two weeks the kids spent almost everyday with Mark, whenever he wasn't completely exhausted. Callie and Arizona tried to spend their time with their friend, too, whenever they weren't busy at the hospital. They all felt it was important for Mark to get as much family time as he could with everyone before he couldn't do much physical activity again. They still hadn't sat down and really discussed what was going on with Mark to Timothy. He still was thinking his dad was okay, but to everyone Mark was slowly slipping away. Mark is getting skinner everyday, and it's pretty much scaring everyone because they know that they won't have much longer. They also recently found out that if Mark would try surgery that it won't fix anything. The cancer spread to all his important organs and it would be too difficult to take out without completely ending Mark's life right there on the table. So, they all decided to keep Mark going for as long as they could for not only their sake, but for the kids, too. Today, they were all going over to Mark and Lexie's, and they were going to sit down to explain everything to Timothy. They don't want Mark's death to be a surprise to Timothy, so, he needed to know everything.

At Mark's; Callie, Arizona, Mark, Lexie, Sofia, and Timothy were sitting around the living room just staring at eachother. Timothy could tell something was up by the way his parents were all staring at eachother, but when he looked over at Sofia, she was just staring down at the floor like she knew what was coming. Sofia was sitting on the side of Mark staring down at her hands. This was a conversation she was not looking forward to. Sure, she's thirteen and could figure everything out on her own, but now they all had to explain everything to an eight year old who would probably have a ton of more questions every single day for the rest of Mark's life.

"Timmy." Arizona whispers, but everyone looks up at her except for Sofia when they hear her.

"What's going on?" Timothy asks his parents and sister.

Callie takes a deep breath before speaking. "Buddy, we need to tell you something about your dad."

"He's still sick, huh?" Timothy asks everyone. Sofia looks up for the first time at her brother. She guessed Timothy knew more than they all suspected.

Mark and the three women exchanged looks before turning back to their son. "Yes, little man, I'm still sick." Mark tells him.

Timothy sighs before looking up at his dad with sad eyes. "Then why aren't you in the hospital? That'll make you better, right?"

"The doctors tried everything they could to help your dad, Tim." Callie tells him.

"But doctors never give up." Timothy repeats what he had been told his whole life.

Sofia rolls her eyes. She, too, had heard this line many many times, but now she knew that this line was a load of crap. "They can't do anything, Tim!" She yells. Everyone turns their heads towards Sofia in surprise.

"But they never give up!" Timothy yells, standing up and looking at his sister.

"Yes, they do!" Sofia yells back before storming out of the house. Arizona whispers something to Callie before running after their daughter.

Ignoring his sister's outburst Timothy turns back to his dad with tears in his eyes. "I don't want you to die." He says, before latching his small arms around Mark's neck. Mark quickly grabs onto his son and hugs him tightly. Callie and Lexie watch on, sadly. Their son was going to grow up without a father. That's the hardest thing for a little boy to have to go through in life.

Outside; Sofia is running towards her moms house with Arizona running behind her.

"Sofia!" Arizona yells after her. "Wait!"

Sofia finally stops running and bends down with her hands on her knees. She is crying out hysterically like she is in pain. Arizona finally catches up with Sofia and without hestitation she wraps her arms around her daughter's small body. "Just breathe." She tells her. With tear stain cheeks and watery eyes Sofia turns in her mom's arms and wraps her arms around Arizona's neck as she cries into her shoulder. "Just breathe, baby."

"He's going to die!" Sofia finally cries out.

Arizona wanted to tell her daughter that everything was going to be okay, but she couldn't lie to Sofia. She and Callie swore that they would never lie to their children and they weren't going to start now. "Come on. Let's go in the house."

Inside; Arizona is sitting sideways on the couch with Sofia laying next to her with her back and head resting on her mommy's chest. Arizona is brushing her fingers through Sofia's long brown hair gently and lovingly. Sofia had stopped crying a few minutes ago, and Arizona had shot Callie a quick text to let her know that everything is okay and she was just going to talk to Sofia for a little bit, but Sofia hadn't said a word since they walked into the house.

"Did I ever tell you about mine and Uncle Tim's childhood friend?" Arizona asks Sofia. Sofia shakes her head. "Well, he was mine and my brother's best friend. We did everything together. Nick was like my other brother; always doing things for me and looking out for me. He was even there for me when Tim died." Arizona says, sadly.

Sofia looks up at Arizona. "Where is he now?" She asks, curiously.

Arizona looks down at the bright green eyes looking back at her. "He passed away when you were just a baby." She tells her.

Sofia rolls her eyes. "Figures." She says with a huff before turning back around. "How did he died?" 

Arizona really didn't want to tell Sofia about Nick, but she needed her daughter to know that she understood what she was going through. It was tough watching Nick go through what he went through, but she was there for him. "Cancer."

"Mommy, why are you telling me this?" Sofia asks, annoyed.

Arizona sits up and pushes Sofia up with her to face her. "Because I want you to know that I understand what you and your brother are about to go through..what you ARE going through. I've been through many many deaths and not just from close relatives and friends, but patients, too. I know how you are feeling right now and I know it hurts and you will hurt for a long time, but I don't want you to run away from us. Come to us."

"And what if I can't?" Sofia asks, honestly.

"Try." Arizona pleads.

Sofia sighs. "Mommy."

"Yeah?"

"Can you and Momma please not leave me?" Sofia asks, with teary eyes.

Arizona looks sadly at her daughter. Hearing those words really broke her heart and for Sofia to ever have to say them hurt her even more. "Baby girl, we are not going anywhere. I promise!" She says, sternly as Sofia reaches up and hugs Arizona tightly around her neck. Arizona kisses Sofia gently on her cheek and wraps her arms protectively around her little girl.

The next day; everyone acted like the day before didn't even happen. Of course Timothy was still asking little questions about his dad, but then he'd go off in his own world not wanting to think anymore about his dad not being there. Since both Callie and Arizona had early rounds and surgeries, Lexie stepped in to take the kids to school. Today is Sofia's soccer tryout and she was so nervous, but not because she was scared of not making the team, she was actually annoyingly confident when it came to that; she was nervous because Mark was going watch her. She loved when her parents watched her play. They made her want to play harder.

In her old soccer uniform, Sofia steps out onto the soccer field. She takes a deep breath, smelling the strong freshly cut grass and looks out at the other girls running back and forth kicking the ball. She missed this. As much as she loves the hospital and loves watching surgeries, she loves soccer, too, and if she could do all three she would. Sofia couldn't wait to get started, so as she stepped towards the middle of the field she looks over to the bleachers expecting to see her dad, but all she seen was an empty bleacher. Sofia shrugs it off thinking he was just late so she runs towards the other girls and the coaches to get started.

At the hospital; Callie and Arizona are at the nurses station, getting ready to on their lunch break together when Lexie walks up to them.

"Hey, guys!" She says, cheerfully. It was odd for Lexie to be so happy lately, but they figured, as always, she was just putting on a brave face.

"Hey, Lexie. Kids got off to school okay?" Arizona asks.

Lexie nods her head. "Oh, yeah, Sofia was very excited for her tryouts today."

Callie couldn't help but smile at this. You couldn't get Sofia to stop talking when she was nervous and excited about something. It kinda reminded her of Arizona. "So, did Mark make it there okay?"

Lexie furrows her brows in confusion. "He didn't call you? He told me he'd call you."

Callie shakes her head. "Uh, no. What's wrong?" She asks, worriedly?

"Mark couldn't go. He wasn't feeling well."

"Crap." Was all Callie could say as she looked over at Arizona who was making the same face she was.

At the soccer field; it's Sofia's turn to kick the ball passed the goalie. When she walks up she looks over at the bleachers one more time expecting to see her dad, but she ends up doing a double take and sees her Mom staring back at her with a smile on her face. Sofia turns back to the soccer ball and kicks it. She makes it in, but doesn't even realize, or even care as she walks away and goes to the back of the line. Callie could tell her daughter was disappointed to not see her dad, and she, too, herself was a little disappointed to not have Mark there either, but she knew this time would come when Mark wouldn't be able to do the things he use to do anymore.

After the tryouts; the coach told the kids that they will find out who made it on Monday, so after that Sofia walks over to her mom.

"Where's Dad?" Sofia asks.

Callie looks down at her daughter and gives her a soft smile. "I'm sorry, baby. He couldn't make it. He just wasn't feeling well today." Sofia didn't have anything to say back to her mom. She just wanted to be home, wanted to go into her room and ignore everyone. "Sofia." Sofia ignores Callie and walks towards their car.

At the house; Sofia and Callie walk in where Arizona and Timothy are sitting at the kitchen table doing homework. Sofia doesn't even acknowledge Arizona or her brother; instead she walks right passed them and upstairs to her room, slamming the door behind her. Callie had tried talking to Sofia in the car, but Sofia wasn't having it. Arizona raises her eyebrows at Callie.

"Mark." Callie says to her wife.

And that was all she had to say. "Alright, Timmy, how about you take your homework upstairs and I'll check it before bed?"

"Okay, Mommy." Timothy grabs his things and runs upstairs.

"Care to tell me what happened?" Arizona asks as soon as she hears Timothy's door close.

"She's so hard headed. That's what happened." Callie says throwing her purse down in frustration.

Arizona chuckles. "Just like her mom." Callie just smiles and rolls her eyes at her wife. "But we don't slam doors in this house so we can't let her get away with it. I don't care how mad she is at Mark or you."

Arizona turns to go upstairs, but Callie catches her arm before she could. "Just let her cool down for a minute. She has been waiting for this day since the summer, so, I'd be mad, too, if my father said he'd be there and then he doesn't show up."

Arizona and Callie sit down at the kitchen table. "But she really can't get mad at Mark for that. It's not his fault."

"I think she knows that. She's mad at the cancer. Just like I'm mad at the cancer, Lexie's mad at the cancer, Mark, everyone is mad at the cancer. Arizona, you should have seen her out on that field. She's so good."

Arizona smiles. "Oh, I know she's good. Plus, when you almost get a soccer ball kicked at your face you kinda figure it out. Girl has good aim. So, did she make the team?"

Callie shrugs. "She'll find out on Monday when she goes back to school, but we both know that she made it. Kids good."

"True." Arizona agrees. She stands up and holds out her hand to Callie. "I think she's cooled down enough. Are you ready to go talk to our daughter?"

Callie takes a deep breath before grabbing Arizona's hand. "As ready as I'll ever be. Let's get this over with." She says, standing up and following her wife up the stairs.

In Sofia's room; without knocking Callie and Arizona walk in to find Sofia grabbing all her soccer gear and throwing them into a box. Arizona rushes to Sofia's side and grabs what's left of a poster in her daughter's hands before she can put it in the box.

"What in the world are you doing?" Arizona asks, confused.

"I'm getting rid of everything soccer. If Daddy can't come watch me at a tryout then he won't be able to watch me when I start my games." Sofia explains.

"You don't even know if you made it yet." Callie reminds her.

Sofia stops what she is doing and looks at Callie with an annoyed look. "We all know I made it."

"Okay, someone is a little TOO confident."

Arizona shakes her head still trying to understand. "Okay, honey, that still doesn't explain why you are throwing away all your stuff."

"Mommy, I don't want to play anymore if Dad can't even watch me. I mean face it we all know he is going to die and that only reason I started playing was because of him."

"Um, and because you're hella good." Callie tells her.

"I don't care. I'm not playing anymore." Sofia says, taking the poster out of Arizona's hand and throwing it into the box.

"Okay. We'll discuss this in a minute. Sit down. Mom and I need to talk to you." Arizona says, pointing towards the bed.

Sofia does as she is told while Arizona sits next to her and Callie just stands in front. "Okay, Mija, Mommy and I had enough of this attitude you've been having and you know we don't slam doors in this house."

"So ground me. I don't care." Sofia says, surprising both Callie and Arizona.

Arizona reaches up and brushes the hair out of Sofia's face as she feels her forehead. "What has got into you?"

"I just don't care anymore, Mommy. I don't care about anything." Sofia confesses.

"Fine." Callie says, not wanting to argue with their thirteen year-old. She could get fairly annoyed with her easily because Sofia was just her in a little body. Arizona knew how to handle her when she got like this. "One week. You go to school, hospital, and home. Got it?"

"Yes, M'am." Sofia tells her.

"I'll go check on Timothy's homework. You need to start on yours then bed. Okay?" Callie asks Sofia who just nods her head before Callie walks out.

Arizona turns to Sofia with concern. She had never seen her daughter act like this. She had the biggest heart she had ever witnessed ever and to hear those words come out of Sofia's mouth was pretty surprising. "Baby, do you have any questions you want to ask me about your dad? You've been pretty quiet about it so I know you must have some stuff running through that brilliant mind of yours." She jokes.

Sofia gives her mom a soft smiles before blinking back tears. "Will it hurt him?"

"What?" Arizona asks, confused.

"When he dies, or when he is in the process of dying. I read that it can take a really long time and sometimes during that they can't talk or move, or do anything for themselves. So, does it hurt?"

Arizona sighs. She knew her daughter was still looking up Mark's cancer, but she didn't know she was going that far deep into it. "I think it hurts for a little bit. But we will be there with him to make sure he is comfortable." Sofia nods her head, understanding before turning straight and staring at her purple wall.

"Will I be able to say goodbye?"

Arizona closes her eyes, reaching over and wrapping her arms around her daughter while kissing her gently on the top of her head. "Yes, baby." Arizona says, softly.

Monday at the hospital, Sofia is sitting in the cafeteria with her moms while she does her homework. All weekend she pretty much stayed to herself watching movies and hanging out in her room. Mark called a few times to apologize for missing try-outs, but Sofia wasn't in the mood to talk.

"How was school today, Sof?" Arizona asks.

"It was good." She says, without looking up from her paper.

Callie and Arizona stare at eachother smiling. They couldn't take the suspense anymore. Sofia barely said anything since Callie picked her up from school and they just had to know. "Okay, enough!" Sofia looks up Callie weirdly. "We need to know! Did you make it?"

Sofia looks at both her moms who had wide cheery smiles on their faces. They looked so creepy Sofia didn't even want to move, but then she sees her dad from the corner of her eye. "Dad!"

"Hey, kid!" Mark says, smiling as he walks up to the girls. To any stranger Mark would look healthy, but to them Mark just didn't look like Mark anymore. Mark was just happy to see that Sofia was talking to him. "What's going on?"

"Well, we were trying to get Sofia to tell us if she made it on the soccer team or not, but then you interrupted." Callie says, annoyed.

Mark rolls his eyes laughing. "Well, excuse me. So, did you make it?" He asks her.

Sofia looks back down at her paper and starts writing again. This is not what she wanted to talk about, but she knew if she didn't answer then her parents would never leave her alone. "Yes, I made it."

"Alright, Sof! I told you, you could make it!" Mark says, happily.

"Good job, baby." Arizona smiles proudly at her babygirl.

"But I'm not doing it." Sofia announces. Everyone's faces drop when they heard that. Mark looks at Callie and Arizona who just shrug their shoulders, but they knew exactly why Sofia didn't want to play and it really wasn't a good excuse if you ask them.

"Well, I'm heading to treatment." Mark says, changing the subject. He, himself, didn't want to start an argument with Sofia either. He knew how stubborn she could be and that was not something he really wanted to deal with right now.

"Can I go with you?" Sofia asks, quickly before Mark could walk away.

"I don't know. I heard you're grounded." Mark jokes, but secretly he was surprised Sofia even asked. This would be the second time that she witnessed Mark getting his meds and she seemed a little freaked out the first time, so this must be serious if she wanted to go with him to get away from her moms for a bit.

Sofia looks at Callie and Arizona. "Yeah, sure. Get out of here."

Callie and Arizona watch Sofia get up and take Mark's hand as they walk towards the Onocology wing. Arizona looks at Callie with concern in her eyes. "Are you sure that was a good idea?"

Callie shrugs. "She needs to spend time with her dad, so if that's how she wants to do it then so be it. I'm not going to stop her."

While in the room where Mark is getting his chemo done, Sofia is sitting next to him holding his hand as she looks around at everyone who is getting the same treatment for different reasons. Mark squeezes Sofia's hand making her look back at him.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

Mark smiles, sincerely. "I'm fine, Sof. Are you okay?"

Sofia laughs lightly. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Well, I know you were upset with me for missing your try-outs, and I am so sorry for that."

Sofia shakes her head not wanting to hear anymore. "I know, and I'm not mad. I'm just aggravated that Mom and Mommy won't leave me alone about it. I don't want to play anymore. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Actually, yes. Sofia, you are a great soccer player. Don't let me get into your way to succeeding in this."

"Dad, I don't want to be a professional soccer player or anything so why does it matter?" Sofia asks.

"Because everything that you do matters. It matters to me and your moms. We just want you to be happy and whenever you play soccer we know that you are happy." Mark explains. Sofia sighs.

"No. I'm happy when my family is watching me. Yes, I love soccer and I think I probably always will, but Dad, I can't play if I know that you are here not able to come and see me, or you're in bed while I'm running around on the field."

Mark sits up so that he could be eye to eye with his daughter. "Sofia, you're missing what I'm trying to tell you. That's what make me happy. Knowing that you and your brother are doing what you love. I might not be able to always go out and watch what you do, but knowing that you are out there having fun then I'm happy."

Sofia's eyes start to water as she stares into her dad's bright blue tired eyes. "And if you die; I don't know if I can still be happy."

Mark didn't know what to say. All he could do was pull Sofia to him and hug her. It's the least he could do since he wasn't sure how much longer he had.

A few days had passed since Mark and Sofia had their little talk. Mark was hoping he somehow got through to Sofia, and during those few days Arizona and Callie were also trying to hint to Sofia that she needed to go to her first game. She had been going to the practices but she still was not sure if she wanted to play the game.

While Callie and Arizona were getting ready for bed they hear a knock on their door. "Come in." Arizona answers. Sofia opens the door and walks in slowly. Callie and Arizona both look up and could see that Sofia has been doing a lot of thinking and now it was finally weighing down on her.

"Hey, kid. What are you still doing up?" Callie asks.

Sofia walks over to her parents' bed and sits down on the edge, crossing her legs, and looking at her moms. "I need to talk to you guys."

Arizona and Callie sense the seriousness in her voice so they sit down on the bed in front of Sofia. "What's going on, baby?" Arizona ask.

Sofia takes a deep breath before she speaks. "Will you guys still love me if I DIDN'T grow up to play soccer?"

Callie and Arizona exchange smiles before looking back at Sofia. "Sweetie, of course. Why wouldn't we?"

Sofia shrugs. "I don't know. I mean you and mommy want me to play so bad and Dad gave me this speech on how happy he would be if I played. I just don't know if I want to play soccer for the rest of my life."

"Sofia, we're not asking you to. We just want you to be happy. So, we'll support you in anything you want to do."

"Good to know."

"Come here." Callie says, scooting over so that Sofia could get between her and Arizona. "We love you no matter what. If you want to be a doctor, or travel the world, or even live with me and mommy for the rest of your life we will still love you."

"But think long and hard about that last one." Arizona says jokingly.

Sofia laughs. "Okay. If I go to my first game can you guys promise that you'll be there? With Timothy. I think I'll be okay if Daddy can't make it. I'll understand."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Arizona tells her as she kisses her on her cheek.

"I love you, Mija." Callie says, kissing Sofia's other cheek.

"I love you, guys. Goodnight, again." She says, hopping off the bed and going into her own room.

"Thank God." Arizona says. She was so happy that Sofia made the right decision to move on and do what she loves to do the most, but she did worry that when things did start to turn for the worse with Mark that Sofia would shut down completely, and that scared all of them.

"We have to make sure Mark gets there." Callie tells Arizona.

Arizona turns to Callie and smiles. "What's your plan?"

It was game day, and Sofia is already on the field warming up. She looks over to where her family usually sits but she still didn't see them. Sofia figured it was too good to be true until she hears her name being called.

"Woo! Sofia!" Sofia turns around to see Cristina along with her moms, Lexie, Meredith, Derek, Owen, Teddy, Miranda, Jackson, April, Alex, and last but not least she sees her dad holding Timothy's hand, smiling her way.

"Ya think we got her?" Mark asks.

"Oh, we got her." Meredith replies.

"Lets go enjoy this game doctors." Callie says, proudly. She couldn't believe she did it, but if Mark needed them they would all be there. Every single doctor that Sofia knew and trusted.

Sofia couldn't believe what she just seen. Her moms actually came through and not only brought Mark, but her whole family. As the game started Sofia ran to the middle of the field and she was all smiles as she waited to steal the ball from her oponent as she heard screaming and yelling coming from the bleachers.

"Mark!" And then it all went downhill from there.

_And it's so hard to breathe  
>And even more so to sleep when no one cares<br>It was all I could need  
>But now I'm sinking, so deep, I can't come up for air<em>


	7. It Happens

It was like everything was going in slow motion as Sofia watched from the field her doctors bending over in front of her dad. Mark was lying on the ground, not moving. Sofia wasn't even sure if he was breathing and right now she couldn't find her feet to move towards her family to find out. As Sofia stood there she could hear cries coming from her brother who looked like he was being put into April's arms. She could also hear her Mom crying and Lexie screaming, then in the background Sofia heard an ambulance coming closer. This was not what she expected to happen at her first soccer game, and for some strange reason Sofia knew this would happen, but of course her parents weren't going to have it any other way. Maybe next time they would believe her. As the ambulance drove closer Sofia seen her mommy's blonde hair waving in the wind as she ran to her.

"Sofia!" Arizona yells as she comes closer and kneels down in front of her daughter. "Sof, we have to go!" Sofia could hear her mom talking to her and she could also see her, but as much as she wanted to respond she just couldn't. So, she just stood there staring down at her mom's blue eyes that were looking up at her with concern. "Sofia, did you hear me?" Arizona tries again to get her daughter's attention, but it just seemed like nothing was getting through. "Derek!" Arizona yells.

Derek looks up after the ambulance takes Mark away to the hospital and then runs over to Arizona and Sofia. "What's going on? We need to get to the hospital."

"I know. I know, Derek, but Sofia isn't responding." Arizona explains.

Derek looks down at Sofia who was just staring at the ambulance that was leaving the field with her dad and mom in it. Derek bends down to Sofia's eye level and stares at her. "She's in shock." Derek tells Arizona. "Lets just get her to the hospital. Come on." Derek says, picking up Sofia and running towards the vehicles with Arizona trailing behind.

At the hospital everyone is sitting in the waiting room waiting for someone to give them an update on Mark. It was weird sitting around waiting when they were usually the ones in the room. As Sofia looked around at her doctors standing around she truely regretted them being her family right now because when she really needed them to do something they couldn't. The only ones in the room were Miranda Bailey, Owen, Cristina, Alex, April, Jackson and Teddy while her Moms, Timothy, Lexie, Derek, and Meredith were all pacing the waiting room floor waiting for answers. Sofia hadn't said a word since they got to the hospital. There was nothing she could say or wanted to say because partly she blamed herself for this. If Mark would have never gone to the game then none of this would have happened, and that is what she kept telling herself.

Suddenly, Mark's door flies open and Owen walks out. Lexie, Callie, and Derek walk quickly over to him. "What's going on, Owen?" Derek asks.

Owen sighs. "It's not good. Mark is stable though and he should be waking up in couple hours."

"What do you mean not good?" Lexie asks, unsure.

Owen puts his hand on Lexie for support. "I think you should start making arrangements, Lexie. I'm sorry."

Sofia looks up when she hears those words come out of Owen's mouth. Owen looked sincerely sorry as he walked away, Arizona went to console Lexie while Callie just stood there stunned. Derek and Meredith went to talk to Owen more about everything and Sofia just still sat there looking at everyone as Timothy sat by her. She knew he didn't fully understand what was happening right now, and honestly Sofia didn't either. But she knew her dad was dying and she wasn't going to stand around here and watch. When Callie turns around to finally face the kids she sees Sofia walking away.

"Sofia! Where are you going?" Callie asks.

Sofia just keeps walking. "Away from here." She says.

Callie and Arizona exchange looks as Timothy walks up to Callie. "Momma, can I go see Dad?"

"Uh, well,.."

"I'll take him." Lexie finally says, as she rises from Arizona's arms.

"Lexie, it's okay. He can wait." Arizona tells her.

"No, it's fine. I want to." Lexie tells them. "You both need to go find Sofia and talk to her. As much as she says she doesn't want to be here, she's going to want to be. Come on, Timmy." Lexie says, grabbing Timothy's hand and walking him to Mark's room.

Arizona and Callie finally look at eachother and fall into eachother's arms. If felt like it been a lifetime since they held eachother. Arizona could feel Callie's tears on her neck so she quickly looks up and sees her wife painfully crying.

"What are we going to do, Arizona?" Callie cries out. "Sofia is a mess, and Timothy, god, he doesn't even really know what's going on. How are we going to deal with a raging hormonal teenager and a boy who is growing up without his father? We need Mark. Mark can't die, Arizona. He can't."

"Shh. Shh. Callie, we can do this." Arizona tells her confidently. "Sofia, yes, she will be a handful, but we can deal with her. She has us. And Timothy is going to have a hard time, but we just have to be there for him. It's going to be a long road to recovery for all of us, but we can do it. And right now we need to pull ourselves together and go find our daughter because right now she needs us. She might not think she does, but remember we know her better than she knows herself right now. Let's go find Sof and get her back here so that she can spend time with her dad."

Callie looks up at Arizona in amazement. "How do you do it?"

"What?"

"How can you just give me that big speech and still hold yourself together with everything that is happening right now?" Callie asks.

"Because right now everyone needs someone and I'm that someone for everyone." Arizona tells her simply before grabbing onto Callie's hand and guiding her down the hall so that they can find their daughter.

In Mark's room Lexie and Timothy are sitting on the side of Mark's bed waiting for him to wake up. Owen just got done checking his blood pressure and other things before slipping out of the room quitely.

"When is he going to wake up, Lexie?" Timothy asks as he stares hard at his dad.

"Soon. I hope, Timmy." She answers as tears fall down her cheeks. "Timothy, can you stay here by yourself for a minutes. I need to go to the restroom."

"Yes."

"Okay. Don't go anywhere!" Lexie says, sternly before getting up and heading out the door. Just as she reaches outside Lexie runs down the hallway and into the restroom. When she goes inside she rushes into a stall and emptys all she has in her stomach into the toilet. When she felt like she was done Lexie collaspes on the floor and begins to cry. This was all becoming too much for her. She tried being strong for Mark and the kids and even for herself but she was losing that battle just like Mark was losing his battle with cancer.

Back in Mark's room; Timothy slowly reaches out to grab his dad's hand and when he does Mark's eyes slowly open.

"Dad!" Timothy says in excitement.

Mark looks around pretty confused then he looks at his son. "Hey, pal. Where's your moms and Lexie?"

Timothy sighs. "Momma and Mommy are trying to find Sofia. She ran away before I came into the room and Lexie is in the restroom. She didn't look too good. Should I go get Uncle Owen or Uncle Derek?"

Mark holds onto Timothy's hand tighter. "Hold on, buddy. I want to talk to you. Come here." Timothy carefully sits on the side of Mark. "Buddy, do you know where your name comes from?" Mark asks.

Timothy nods his head. "Yeah, from Uncle Timothy. Mommy's brother. He died." He says, sadly as he thinks of his Dad doing the same thing.

Mark takes Timothy's hand and holds it tight. "Yeah, buddy, he did, but he died being very very brave. And that's what I need you to be. Brave." Mark explains. "Your moms and sister and Lexie are going to have a difficult time with everything that is about to happen, but since you are my son and the only man; I'm going to need you to be very brave and take care of them for me."

"Dad, are you going to die?"

Mark looks down not wanting to tell his son the truth but he couldn't lie to him either. "I think so, buddy. It's okay for you to be sad because I'm sad, too."

"You are?" Timmy asks in surprise. He never knew his dad for being sad about anything.

"Yeah. And guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm scared, too." Mark confesses.

"But you're not scared of anything, Dad."

"Well, somethings I am scared of, I just don't like to show it sometimes. I'm scared about missing out on everything you and your sister do. I don't want to leave you both because you two are the two most important people in my life." Mark tells Timothy.

"I can take care of Sofia." Timothy says confidently.

"I know you can, buddy. I love you." Mark pulls Timothy in and hugs his tightly.

"I love you, too, Dad."

As Mark held his son in his arms all the thoughts of all he was going to be missing flooded his brain. Timothy is just a kid. A little kid. He wasn't as old as Sofia who had her moms to go to when something was happening to her. He's a boy who needs his dad for everything. He needed answers to questions that he was going to ask one day, but who would he go to? Derek? Owen? Sure. But they weren't his dad. Mark wasn't sure how he was ever going to get passed this, but as long as he was able to hold his son in his arms then he would have to take in what he has now and stop thinking about the future he will never have.

In Mark's office Sofia is laying her head down on her father's desk when Arizona and Callie walk in.

"Sofia?" Callie calls out. "Sof, your dad will be awake soon." Callie walks closer to her daughter as Arizona stays back and watches. Callie bends down on the side of Sofia's chair and puts her hand on her daughter's knee to get her attention. "Sweetie."

Sofia looks up at Callie with tears staining her face. Looking at this broke Callie and Arizona's hearts to pieces. "Please don't make me say goodbye! Please, Mom!" Sofia cries as she jumps into Callie's arms and cries into her mom's neck.

"Oh, Sofia." Callie whispers desperately into her daughter's ear. She wraps her arms tightly around her little girls waist as she felt Sofia's tears fall down her face and onto her neck.

Arizona slowly makes her way to her wife and daughter and bends down next to them. "Hey, no one is saying goodbye. Your dad is going to wake up any minute and I'm sure he will feel really bad for messing up your game so the first face he'd want to see is yours. So, don't look at this as a goodbye. Just look at it as another day hanging out with your dad in the hospital."

"How can I do that when he is laying in a bed looking half dead?" Sofia asks.

Callie shakes her head. "Baby, you can't think that way. He's still your dad and he's still alive. Treat him that way."

Tired of everything already Sofia just lays her head back down onto Callie's shoulder. The morning was barely finished yet and she had already been through so much in one day. Her parents were feeling her exhaustion as well and as much as they wanted to agree with Sofia they knew they couldn't just walk away. Mark wasn't dead and they had to treat him like that. He needed his family and sadly they were all he had.

In Mark's room; Lexie made her way in and was surprised when she seen Mark awake and talking to Timothy. Mark looks away from his son and to his wife and smiles.

"Hey, babe." He says.

Lexie gives Mark a soft smile while walking towards him. Timothy jumps down to give Lexie some room. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good." Lexie gives him the 'you're lying' look. "I swear. Just tired. How are you doing? You look a little pale."

Lexie closes her eyes before opening them back to stare back at the blue ones she fell in love with. "I'm fine. It's just been a long morning."

Mark grabs his wife's hand and presses it gently onto his lips. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Lexie says, shaking her head. "Has Owen or anyone came in to see you since you've woke up?"

Mark smirks. "No. I've been talking to my son." He says as he looks over at Timothy who is standing off to the side looking at his dad. "Kinda didn't have time for it."

Typical Mark Lexie thought. "Well, you need to make time. I'm going to get Owen." Lexie says, turning around just as the door opens again and Callie and Arizona walk through.

"You're up." Callie says surprised.

Mark smirks. "I am."

"And I was just going to get Owen." Lexie tells them.

"I'll go with you. Come on, Timothy. Let's leave your mom and dad to talk." Arizona tells him.

Timothy grabs his mom's hand and turns back to his dad. "I'll be back."

"I'll be here, buddy." Mark replies as Lexie, Arizona, and Timothy walk out of the room.

Callie smiles at Mark as she walks closer and sits on the edge of his bed. "How you feeling?"

"Tired. Where's Sofia?" Mark asks.

"She's sitting outside." Callie tells him, sadly.

"I scared her." Mark says not really asking but just saying. He had that father instinct happening right now. I mean when you pass out at your daughter's first soccer game; it's likely she was freaking out.

Callie shrugs. "She's freaking out, but I'm pretty sure not for that reason. She is just taking a breather then she will come in here."

"I'm going to go home." Mark tells Callie, kinda taking her off guard.

Callie looks at Mark, confused. "What are you talking about, Mark? You can't go home right now."

"No. Not right this minute. But I'm getting weaker, Callie." After hearing that all Callie could do was close her eyes and sigh. She was afraid this would happen, but she wasn't expecting it so soon. "I don't want to stay in the hospital for my last days. I want to be home and with my kids."

"The kids can come here, Mark. Don't be ridiculous."

"I want to be comfortable, Callie. I want my kids to be comfortable. I don't want their last memories of me to be laying in a hospital bed. I'm going home."

"Mark.." Callie wanted to argue with Mark so bad, but she knew it wouldn't work. Mark was going to do what he wanted to do and she wouldn't be able to stop him. "I.."

Mark takes Callie hand making her look up at him. "I love you, too, Callie." Callie couldn't hold it together after that. She collapsed into Mark's arms and let him hold her as she cries into her best friend's shoulder. "You are a wonderful mother, Callie. You and Arizona are going to be fine to take care of Sofia and Timothy without me. I am just happy and grateful that you let me be apart of it."

"Mark.." Callie sits up, tears still falling, as she begs Mark to stop with her eyes.

"I need to say these things, Callie, because this may be the last time I'll be able to say this to you. I want you to know how happy you have made me. To be able to see my kids and be a father to them. That is the greatest gift anyone could ever give me. And I know that Sofia is going to be a tough one to live with once I'm gone." Mark laughs as he tries to picture the future. Callie couldn't help but chuckle at this thought, too, because they both knew how stubborn and crazy Sofia could be. "She reminds me a lot of you whenever you get like that. Sofia is a replica of you." He laughs again making Callie roll her eyes because Arizona told her this all the time. "But don't be afraid to walk away when it becomes too much. Just take a breath and let Blondie handle it. Arizona knows how to handle Sofia better than anyone of us and you know that. But I think, in time, Sofia will be just fine. Now, Timothy." Mark says with a sigh. "He's confused, and I think he'll be confused for a long time, but just don't let him forget me."

Callie shakes her head. "Never." She tells him softly.

"He's my only boy, so make sure he carries the name proudly. And I want you to take care of Lexie. I know she's been putting on a brave face and trying to make it seem like none of this is getting to her, but it is. I've caught her a few times crying in our bathroom when she thought I was sleeping. She's the love of my life so don't let her, even if she tries her hardest, to walk away. Keep her here. She needs to watch Sofia and Timothy grow up for me."

Callie just sits there smiling down at her best friend. She didn't know how she was going to get through her life without Mark. Not having him around all the time was going to be strange. It wouldn't feel real. This doesn't feel real. "I love you, Mark."

Mark looks up at his friend that had made him a better man since he met her. That gave her children and never gave up on him. "I love you, too, beautiful." He says, picking up Callie's hand and kissing it gently. "You have no idea." He and Callie just sit there smiling at one another until there's a knock on the door. They both look to see Arizona looking over at them.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just wanted to tell you that Sofia went off again. I tried stopping her but, of course, she wouldn't listen to me." She tells them.

"She'll come back." Mark tells her, knowing his daughter all too well. She just needed time to herself to work up the courage to face him.

Callie pats Mark on his hand before turning back to Arizona. "I'll go look for her." She says as she gets up and walks towards the door where Arizona is standing and kisses her on her temple before she walks out.

Arizona turns to leave, too, but Mark stops her. "Arizona." He calls out to her.

Arizona turns back around and smiles softly at Mark. "What's up, Mark?"

"Come over here a second." Arizona looks out the door to make sure no one was coming and then walked closer to Mark with a big smile on her face. "Geez, Robbins, I know you're happy for me, but you don't have to show it."

Arizona frowns and rolls her eyes at Mark. Still the same ole' Mark. "That's not funny." She tells him.

Mark laughs. "It kinda was. Sit down." He orders her. Arizona slowly situates herself on Mark's bed and look at identical blue eyes. She had so much to say but she couldn't seem to spit it out. She's surprised when Mark takes her hand into his own. "I want to tell you how grateful I am to you for not making Callie kick me out of her life."

Arizona chuckles. "How could I do that, Mark? You are the father of our children and her best friend. I couldn't do that to her."

"Yeah, but you could have." He tells her honestly. "I know you hate me.."

"I don't hate you, Mark."

"Well, you use to hate me."

"True."

"But thanks for giving me a chance. I know it wasn't easy to get over Callie sleeping with me, but to be completely honest with you, blondie, I'm glad she did."

Arizona looks down. "I'm glad she did, too." She says, surprising Mark. She looks back up and sees his confused face. "We wouldn't have Sofia, or even tried for Timothy if she didn't. But you have been a great Dad to those kids and they love you so much."

"They love you, too." Mark tells her. "Sofia looks up to you so much, and that makes me regret everyday for telling you that you were nothing when she was born because you are everything. You are everything to me, to Callie, and to our kids."

"No, Mark, you are everything. Without you those kids wouldn't exist. Those kids wouldn't make me completely insane and feel completely loved without you. I never wanted a family, I never wanted to have the life I have now. Everyone knew that, but you changed that. You have changed everything for us."

Mark smiled at Arizona who was looking deeply into Mark's eyes, trying to hold back the tears, trying to hold back the anger that she felt towards him for leaving them. "I thought I was the one who was suppose to be making the great speeches?" He laughs.

"Not everything is about you, Mark." Arizona jokes. Mark laughs before taking Arizona's and pulls her closer to him making her fall to his chest. Arizona smiles and hugs the man she never thought she'd think of as a friend. "I am going to take great care of them." She promises. "They will never forget their dad."

Mark couldn't even hide his tears anymore. He breaks down in Arizona's arms. "Thank you." He says sincerely as they just held eachother.

Outside the hospital, Sofia is sitting on the bench that she and her dad would always sit at just to talk and to watch everyone walk by. They would sit there laughing at most of them and would try to guess their symptoms as they went by. It was one thing she was going to miss, among other things, when her dad was no longer with them. Sofia looks from the corner of her eye at her mom walking towards her. She must have just got out of the room with Mark because her face was still red and wet from the tears she must have cried. Callie walks closer and sits down next to her daughter. She really didn't have to say anything because as soon as she sat down Sofia leaned her body into hers and just sat there. They both sat there watching people walk by while their life was standing still.

Back in Mark's room, Owen and Derek are finishing up checking Mark while, Lexie is standing in front of his watching him. Arizona had left with Timothy to find Callie and Sofia and to give Lexie some time alone with Mark.

"Okay, Mark, everything looks fine so far. We will just leave you to rest. Call us if you need us." Owen tells him.

Mark nods his head, but grabs Derek's arm before he could walk away. "I want to talk to you later, okay?"

Derek nods his head and gives his longtime best friend and smile. "Of course." Derek looks at Lexie with a smile before leaving the room.

Mark turns towards his wife. He thinks back at the time they were struggling to even get through their stubborness and finally be together. He was dating someone else when Sofia was a baby while Lexie was dating around also, but she couldn't seem to keep a steady boyfriend because her heart was telling her she belonged with Mark. Mark's heart was also telling him the same thing, but he wasn't listening to it. Finally, Lexie couldn't take much more, after the bickering, and trying to get information from other people about Mark, she finally gave in and stopped Mark outside the hospital to tell him how she felt. She was expecting Mark to just turn and walk away, but to her surprise Mark swooped her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Without any second thoughts, they eloped, and ever since then were the happiest they had ever been. Lexie didn't want that happiness to end, but seeing Mark laying there in a hospital bed she knew it was going to have to.

"Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to give your husband a little attention." Mark asks jokingly snapping Lexie out of her thoughts.

She looks lovingly at her husband and smiles. "Ha Ha." She laughs as she walks towards him.

Mark grabs Lexie's hands and they just look at eachother with such love without even saying a word. "You're amazing. You know that, right?"

Lexie turns away in embarrassment as she laughs. "No. You're amazing." She tells him.

"I'm only amazing because you are. You have been amazing throughout this whole thing even though I know it is tearing you up inside."

"Mark."

"I've seen you, Lexie." He says withouth having to explain anymore. Lexie knew that he was talking about her hiding away crying. She didn't want him to see her breakdown. She didn't want him to know that this was killing her inside. "But it's okay." He promises. "You have every right to breakdown every now and then. It's hard for you. It's hard for me to watch you watch me."

"You don't deserve any of this." Lexie tells him, bitterly, as she looks around at all the machines that are hooked up to him. "You are a doctor. You're not suppose to be a patient. You are suppose to be here to see Sofia go into high school, graduate, and go off to college. You should be here to see her get married. To watch Timothy win his football games. We are suppose to help Callie and Arizona raise those kids together!" She yells. Lexie was finally letting everything out and Mark was not going to dare stop her from doing so. "We were suppose to grow old together!" She cries. "I love you, Mark."

Mark sits up and takes Lexie into his arms. "I love you, Lexie." Lexie cries harder into Mark. "I will always be with you. I promise. And I need you to promise me a couple things, too."

"Anything." Lexie mumbles.

"I need you to always be there for Sofia and Timothy. They are going to need you so much more when I am gone. They are going to want to know so much about me that even Callie doesn't know. So, they are going to go to you." Mark tells her. "Promise me that you will always be with them."

"I will never leave those kids, Mark." Lexie promises him. "I love them so much."

"I know. I know." Mark says as she wipes his tears while he holds Lexie in his arms. The love of his life. "It's okay to cry, Lexie. It's okay to be sad when you want to be. But it's alright to move on, too. I know you are going to try hard not to, but I need you to. I need you to move on from me, Lexie." Lexie starts crying harder and shaking her head. "I need you to." Mark says loudly and holds Lexie tighter.

"I love you so much." Lexie pulls away and starts kissing Mark. Mark doesn't stop her though. He needed this. They needed to feel eachother just one more time.

It had been a few hours since everyone except for Sofia had seen Mark. Lexie stayed with Mark at the hospital while Callie and Arizona took the kids back home to get ready for bed. Mark was leaving in the morning to go home. No one was happy about that idea, but they knew Mark needed to be some place he was comfortable at, and as much as he loved the hospital, he need to be home close to his family. Sofia really did want to see her dad. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't mad at him for messing up her first soccer game. They ended up winning their game even though she wasn't there, and she couldn't be even more thrilled for her team, and now she just wanted to tell her dad. So as Sofia layed in her bed, staring up at the ceiling, surrounded by her pink and purple walls, she sat there thinking about her dad who was losing his life to this stupid this called cancer and she was being selfish by not going be with her dad for his last days. And they all knew his last day were coming, and they were coming fast. Sofia got up from her bed and walked out of her room. The lights were off in the house which meant that Sofia had been up most of the night while everyone else was sleeping. Sofia walked down to her brother's room and took a peek in where Timothy was sleeping soundly. Timothy was only eight years-old and this was happening to him, too. He's just a little boy who barely understood as much as Sofia did and even now, through all her research, Sofia still didn't understand why it had to happen to their dad. She knew when Timothy got older he would ask more questions about Mark, and Sofia knew that she would be the one that he would be going to for those answers. Sofia walks back down the hall and goes to the room that is across from her own. She looks in and sees her mothers cuddling with eachother. Callie has her arms protectively around Arizona as they sleep. Sofia knew if she would lose either one them then her life would surely be over forever. Her mothers, like like her dad, are her life. They're her protectors; her heroes. They're the ones that pick her up when she can't go any further. To not have them in her life would surely be tragic, and now she was losing her dad. She could barely go on as it was, but looking at her mothers laying so peacefully in their bed together, she knew that they would make her life okay even though it will be a long and tough one to get through.

The next morning, Sofia hadn't slept all night. She couldn't close her eyes until she seen her dad. So, she went downstairs and started to cook breakfast for her parents and brother. Arizona and Callie walk downstairs and are surprised to see Sofia standing in front of the oven. The house smelled like bacon, eggs, and she had even made pancakes for them. Sofia made sure to make the coffee, too, knowing her mom couldn't get her day started without it.

"What is happening here?" Callie asks as she smiles at her daughter.

Sofia turns around and looks at her parents who are smiling at her. "I made breakfast for you guys. I even made you coffee, Mom."

Callie nudges Arizona and walks over to the coffee pot. She takes out a mug and begins to pour the coffee. "Thanks, Mija." Sofia just looks at her mom with a smile as she finishes up the last of the pancakes. "Whoa. Who taught you how to make coffee? This is amazing." Callie says surprised.

"Years of watching you." Sofia tells her.

Arizona walks closer and kisses Sofia on her cheek. "Thank you for making breakfast." She takes a closer look at her daughter and notices the rings around her eyes. "Did you sleep at all?"

Callie looks down at Sofia to get a closer look and notices how tired she look. "No." Sofia says honestly. "I couldn't sleep."

Callie takes the spatula away from Sofia. "Take a break, cook." She jokes as she gently pushes Sofia away.

Arizona leads Sofia to the barstool and gets a good look at her. "What's going on?"

Sofia shrugs her shoulders, tiredly. "I kept thinking about Dad, and I couldn't sleep until I seen him. I should have seen him yesterday." She says with anger.

"Sof, your dad understands. Yesterday was a long day for everyone." Callie tells her.

"Yeah, and he's going to be home today, so you can go over there when he gets home." Arizona adds.

"What about school?" Sofia asks.

Callie and Arizona glance at eachother before Arizona turns back to Sofia. "Mom and I decided that school won't be an option for a few days."

"Because Daddy's dying?" Sofia asks them knowing the truth.

"No. Because we need to all spend some time with him, okay? So, Mom's going to finish this amazing breakfast you've started and how about you go upstairs and wake up your brother."

Sofia hops off the stool. "Okay." She walks away from her parents and climbs the stairs to her brother's room.

"Ugh, what are we going to do with her?" Callie asks as she places the last of the pancakes on a plate.

Arizona starts setting the table and shakes her head. "I have no idea. How are we sleeping when she is awake? I mean, she's not the quietest. She has to be moving around that room of her's."

Callie smirks. "Sofia could run away and we would never know. We'll eat breakfast then we'll bring her over to see Mark so then after she can sleep."

Callie walks over with the plates of food in her hands and puts them in the middle of the table. "I cannot believe she made all of this." Arizona says in amazement.

"And she made some pretty damn good coffee." Callie says with a wide grin as she hands Arizona the coffee to taste.

Arizona rolls her eyes and takes a sip of the coffee. She gasps at how good it is while Callie stands there nodding and smiling at her wife.

At Mark and Lexie's, Callie, Arizona, Sofia, and Timothy all walk into the house where Lexie is in the kitchen fixing some food.

"Hey, guys!" Lexie says with a smile.

They all smile back at her. "Hey, Lexie. Did everything come out okay?" Arizona asks her.

"Oh, yeah. Mark is actually in our bed right now. I was just making some food for us."

"Is he sleeping?" Sofia asks.

Lexie shakes her head. "No. He's awake."

Sofia looks up at her moms for their approval to go upstairs to see Mark. "Go ahead." Callie tells her.

Sofia runs upstairs quickly, leaving the rest of them behind. "Well, what am I suppose to do?" Timothy asks, sadly, while he sits on the barstool in front of Lexie.

Arizona rolls her eyes at her son's dramatic behavior. "You can hang out with us."

Timothy just gives her a look that makes Lexie and Callie both laugh. He was a little boy. He did not want to hang out with his moms. "Rocco needs to be let out. You can do that if you want." Lexie tells him.

"Okay!" He says, happily. They watch Timothy run out the backyard with their dog Rocco following behind him.

Callie and Arizona sit on the barstools in front of Lexie. Callie is the first to notice Lexie's messy look. "You okay, Lexie? You look a little sick."

Lexie brushes her hair out of her face. "Oh, I'm fine. My stomach hasn't been right since Mark was put in the hospital so I think I'm just a little stressed out."

"Lexie, you aren't..." Arizona says as she and Callie make eye contact. It was like Callie read her wife's mind as they both turn back to Lexie. Lexie looks at them both and knowing exactly where they were going with this.

"No. No!" She says quickly. "It's just stress." She thinks.

Upstairs Sofia makes her way to her dad's room. She was nervous to see him since she hadn't seen him since he waved at her at her game. She peeked and seen her dad watching tv. He looked like his same ole' self except that he was skinnier than he was before. Sofia knocks lightly on the doorframe making Mark look up. When he sees his daughter, a smile instantly reaches his face. Her long wavy hair and a face that matched his beautiful best friend would knock down anyone who seen her.

"Hey, sweetheart." Mark says proudly as Sofia walks closer to him.

"Hi, Daddy." Sofia says quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't see you yesterday."

"Hey, don't even worry about that." Mark tells her sternly. "Today is a new day and you're here." Sofia nods her head and sits down in front of Mark on the bed. "I want to apologize about your game."

"Don't worry about it." Sofia says quickly. "We won, and Coach said that I am welcomed back anytime. It's okay. How are you feeling?"

Mark laughs. "Better now that I seen you. I'm glad you came."

"Me, too." Sofia says with a smile. They stayed quiet for a few minutes. Mark couldn't take his eyes off his daughter and Sofia was looking around nervously. She couldn't help but still feel bad for yesterday and how she acted. "I should have never asked you to come to my game. I knew it was too much and I did it anyway."

"Hey, hey." Mark says stopping her. "Come here." Sofia slides on the side of Mark as Mark wraps his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. "That was not your fault. I would have been to your game no matter what because it was important to you. You did not bring this on, okay?" Sofia nods her head, still not believing him though. "I want you to know that I could have been happier as I watched you on that field. You looked like a true soccer player." He tells her making Sofia laugh. "I mean it. Sofia, you are an amazing kid and I know that you will continue to be amazing as you grow. You are my kid, afterall." He jokes.

"Dad.." Sofia whines even though she liked when her dad told her these things.

"Sofia, you are my oldest. My only daughter."

"Dad are you getting sappy on me?" Sofia laughs.

Mark kisses Sofia gently on her temple. "I love you, Sof, so much. I enjoyed watching you grow in the little lady that you are. Please don't give your mothers too much of a heartattack as you grow up. You are just like your mom, so I know you are going to be an even bigger firecracker than you are now, but just remember that voice in your head telling you what not to do which is your mommy." Sofia couldn't help but giggle at that. Arizona was always in her head. "But also remember that I'm around all the time. I've got your back every single day of your life. But the number one thing that I really want you to do for me is to watch over Timothy. I know you're a girl and he's a boy, but you two will need eachother at all times. That's just how siblings are. You have eachother's backs. I love you, kid."

Sofia takes a deep breath as she takes in all of what her dad just told her. He pretty much gave her his goodbye speech and that wasn't sitting too well with her, but she knew she had to be strong right now. She still had her dad right now. She couldn't think about the day he's not going to be here anymore. Sofia looks up at Mark as one tear falls down her cheeks. "I love you, Daddy." She reaches up and wraps her small arms around Mark's neck as Mark wraps both his arms tightly around his little girl. He breathes in her scent as a stray tear falls from his eye as he's already missing this moment and he's not even gone yet.

Downstairs, Lexie is finally finishing up Mark's dinner and is ready to bring it up to him.

"Let me just take this up to Mark." Lexie tells them, but Callie quickly stands up and walks over to her.

"No, let me do it." Callie tells her as she takes the plate away from her. "You go relax. Arizona, how about you put on a movie or something. I'll go get Sofia so that Mark can eat in peace and we'll come back down and hang out."

"Sure." Arizona says gladly as she stands up and goes into the living room.

"Thanks, Callie." Lexie says sincerely to her friend.

"No problem." Callie smiles and makes her way upstairs.

When Callie gets to Mark and Lexie's room, she goes to knock but stops when she hears the t.v. but no one talking that sounded like her daughter and friend. So Callie peeks inside the room and sees her daughter sleeping sounding on her father's chest and Mark resting his head back on the pillow while holding his daughter securely with his arm. Callie smiled at the sight and set the plate of food on the nightstand. She takes the blanket from the edge of the bed and puts it on top of them before kissing them both gently on the forehead. This was going to be a long recovery for her little girl when she could no longer do this with her dad, but for right now Callie was not going to ruin the moment while they had it.


	8. Gone

It had been a long few days since Mark had been out of the hospital. Callie and Arizona decided to let the kids go to school until further notice. They didn't want them to see Mark in this condition just yet. Mark was now having trouble forming words. When he tried, they would just come out in mumbles or groans. He was getting frustrated with himself, so he would take it out on the people around him. Lexie knew that Mark didn't mean what he was doing, but it still hurt none the less. She just wanted to make him comfortable and if hearing him yell, or try to yell, at her was all she could get from him, then she would take it anyday if it meant he was still breathing. Mark also was moving around a lot before he had to stick to the bed permanantly. He was outside just a few days ago helping Timothy put his bike back together and helping Sofia with soccer, but soon after the kids went back to school, he could no longer get up and move around on his own anymore. Callie and Arizona did not want their kids to see their dad struggle. They wanted them to remember the good times they had before Mark passed. But now things were getting difficult to hide and Arizona and Callie knew that the time was coming to have Sofia and Timothy around them for good.

As Callie and Arizona pull up to the schools and sat there awhile as they looked at eachother with deep sadness.

"Are we sure we want to do this?" Callie asks her wife, as she lets her own tears escape her eyes.

Arizona takes a deep breath. "We have to, Calliope. It could happen real soon." Arizona wipes the tears from Callie's face and gives her a small smile before they both get out of the car and walk hand in hand to the entrance of the school.

As they were waiting for Sofia and Timothy to walk into the office, they kept getting sad looks from all the faculty. Callie now understood why Sofia came home angry all the time. She was getting these stares, too. Arizona notices the girls that Sofia had been having trouble with and the ones Callie almost punched and she nudges her wife. Callie looks at Arizona and Arizona nudges her head towards the girls. Callie looks to the girls who are just staring at them with sad eyes. Of course the ones who never want to get to know you and pick fights with you would be the ones that thought they knew you and felt sorry for you. Callie just rolled her eyes just as Sofia and Timothy run through the doors. Sofia just walks right passed the girls, not giving them any attention. They had been trying to do stuff for her lately, but she knew it was just because they felt sorry for her. It's not like they really liked her or anything. Timothy runs straight into Arizona's arm and she picks him hugging him tightly. Sofia looks at her mom with a confused look.

"Why are you both here? Did we do something?" She asks.

Callie shakes her head and touches Sofia's face lovingly. "No, honey, we are taking you both home for a few days."

Sofia looks at her mommy's eyes as she looked at Timothy, who was still in her arms. Sofia could see the sadness in her mommy's bright blue eyes. Sofia looks up at her mom's and sees the tear stains located on her cheeks. "Something happened." Sofia says, simply.

Arizona and Callie exchange looks before turning back to their kids. "Let's go home." Arizona says while she puts Timothy down and takes his hand and walks out.

Callie is still looking at Sofia who just watched her mommy leave. "Come on, Mija."

"Is Daddy dying?" Sofia asks her, ignoring her mom's hand.

Callie sighs. She did not want to start this in Sofia's school with everyone staring at them. "Come on. Your dad wants to see you." This time Callie grabs Sofia's hand herself and Sofia relunctantly follows her mom out of the office.

_When I fall out  
>who will leave me?<br>Will my voice still  
>carry meaning?<br>Will you even know I'm  
>Gone?<br>_

The ride home felt like forever to Sofia. She did not want to see her dad dying. The internet tells you everything that could happen to someone when they are dying. They can't talk, they can't move, and they can't do much for themselves at all. Sofia did not want to see her dad in that position even though she knew he was. She wasn't allowed to see him these last couple days because her moms insisted that he needed to rest, but Sofia knew. She knew her dad was dying and they didn't want them to see him like that. Just a few days ago Mark was outside with her and kicking around the soccer ball with her and they were riding bikes with Timothy, and now, he was in bed. Dying.

They pull up to Mark and Lexie's house instead of their own. Sofia looks quickly at her moms. She did not want to be here right now. No.

"We're coming see Dad?" Timothy asks them with excitement.

Arizona and Callie both turn around in their seats and look at their kids with serious looks. Sofia knew those looks and she definitely did not want to see them at a time like this. "Yes, we're going to see your dad." Callie starts. "But we have to be very very careful around him, okay?" Timothy nods his head quickly. He really wanted to see his dad. Sofia did, too, but not like this.

"Timothy, he looks very different than the last time you seen him." Arizona tells him.

"How come?" He asks confused.

"Because he's dying." Sofia says before her moms could think of a better way of saying it. She wanted her little brother to know the truth.

After hearing this, though, Timothy slumps back down in his seat, sadly, next to his big sister. They were both sitting there with scared looks on their faces. Now they both didn't want to get out of the car. Callie and Arizona look at eachother with nervous looks. This was not how they were expecting this to go. "But he's still your dad." Callie tells them. "He just won't be able to do the things that he was doing before."

"Now, come on, he really wants to see you both." Arizona says with a smile on her face. She gets out the car and opens Timothy's door.

"Will you stay with me?" He asks her, as he slips out of the car, slowly.

Arizona bends down so that she is eye level with her son. "Of course." She tells him with a quick kiss to the cheek. She takes his hand and they walk towards the door still waiting for Callie and Sofia.

Callie opens Sofia's door. She could tell her daughter was scared for what she was about to see. They all knew that Sofia had been looking up all of this. So she knew what was coming, but that didn't mean she was ready for it. Sofia looks at her mom who is looking right back at her. "I can't do it without you, Sof." Callie tells her as she puts her hand out for her daughter to take.

Sofia turns to her mom and brother. Arizona gives her a small smile assuring her that she was there. She turns back to Callie and takes her hand. Callie hugs Sofia tightly around her small body. She needed this. She needed to feel her daughter. She was apart of Mark and she needed to feel her. Sofia, without hesitating, wrapped her arms around her mom's neck and hugged her tightly. This was hard on everyone and Sofia couldn't just let her moms be there for her. She had to be there for them, too. "We can do this." Sofia whispers into her mom's ear.

Callie tried not to breakdown right there in the driveway so she quickly pulls Sofia off of her and takes her hand, leading her towards her beautiful wife and son. They all take a deep breath before entering Mark Sloan's home. 

_Will the world still  
>see in color?<br>Will we learn to  
>love eachother?<br>Will you even know I'm  
>Gone?<em>

As they walk into the house, Sofia is suddenly hit with this strange smell lingering in the house. She looks around at her family to see if they were smelling it, too, but they weren't showing any sign to. There was people in the house already. Her doctors were there. Sofia was sure they were there to say their goodbyes, too, but she also knew they were there to keep Mark comfortable and to take him when he finally left them. Sofia pulls herself away from her parents and lingers in the kitchen as she watches her Aunt Meredith and Uncle Alex walk over to her moms and hug them. Aunt Meredith had been crying which was rare to see. Things must have gone to bad to worse fast.

"Where's Derek?" Arizona asks Meredith.

"He went upstairs to sit with Lexie and Mark." Meredith tells her.

"Things took a turn for the worse when you two left." Alex tells them. Arizona looks at him with confusion. Alex takes a peek at Sofia and sees her in the kitchen looking off somewhere else. He thought she wasn't listening, but he was wrong. "He's having trouble breathing on his own." He whispers.

Callie and Arizona are both surprised. When they left he was trying to talk. Now he could barely breathe? "What?" Callie asks.

"Derek brought over a machine to help him, so Mark is hooked up to that right now." Meredith explains.

Sofia quickly wipes her tears so that no one sees her. She did not want them to think she couldn't handle this. This was all happening way too fast and Sofia was pretty sure she would no longer have a father tomorrow.

Timothy looks around all the grown-ups and then he looks back up at his mom. "Mommy, I want to see Dad." He tells Arizona.

Arizona looks down at her son. "Okay." She turns to Sofia. "Sof, do you want to come up with us?"

Sofia looks at her mom and her brother. She really did want to be there for her brother, but first she had to work herself up to seeing her dad and it was taking awhile to do so. "No, thanks." She says shaking her head. "I'll wait."

Arizona looks at Callie, who just nods her head and gives her son a quick kiss on his head. Arizona takes Timothy's hand and brings him upstairs to see Mark. Rocco, their dog, well, Sofia and Timothy's dog runs up to Sofia and starts licking her arm. She smiles the first smile that Callie had seen since she picked her up and pets Rocco lovingly on his back and behind his ears. When Sofia was just seven years-old and her little brother was two, Mark insisted that they needed a pet in the family. But unfortunately Arizona and Callie decided that it would be best for them to leave Rocco with Mark since Arizona and Callie weren't home all the time and wouldn't be able to take care of Rocco like they should. Sofia takes Rocco by his collar and walks over to her mom and their friends.

"Momma, can I take Rocco outside?" She asks Callie.

Callie looks at her daughter with a strange look. Why was she acting like nothing was happening right now? "Uh, you sure, Mija? You don't want to go up and see your dad?"

Sofia shakes her head. "No. I'll go up later. Timothy needs some time with him alone."

"Alright then." Callie saying, giving in. Sofia thanks her and runs out to the backyard with Rocca behind her.

"How's she taking everything?" Meredith asks.

Callie looks out the backdoor window at her daughter and Rocco sitting on grass playing with eachother and Sofia laughing. Callie wished she could explain how her daughter was feeling right now but she couldn't. Sofia was acting like a different person. "I don't know." Callie tells her. "I really don't know.

Upstairs in Mark's room, Arizona walks in with Timothy where they find Lexie and Derek sitting on both sides of Mark's bed. Derek looks up and gives them a small smile before standing up. Timothy's eyes darted right to his dad. He didn't even tell Lexie or Derek hey. He just walked right over to his dad. Arizona puts her hand on Lexie's shoulder. Lexie had been crying ever since Mark stopped trying to talk. She didn't know what else to do but to sit there incase he wanted something and couldn't say it. She takes Arizona's hand in her own and they just look at Mark.

"Sofia?" Lexie asks Arizona.

Arizona sighs. "She's downstairs with Callie." Lexie just simply nods her head. She knew Sofia needed time to herself first before she seen her dad. The kid was way too smart for anyone's liking so they knew that Sofia knew what was happening and what she was going to be walking into. Arizona looks over at Derek who is standing further away from Mark now so that he could give Timothy some room. "Any change?" Arizona whispers to him. Derek just shakes his head which makes Arizona feel ten times worse than she did before.

They watch as Timothy walks on the other side where Derek was sitting. He couldn't help but look around at all the machines that were hooked up to his dad. He was confused and Derek could see the confusion in his face. Arizona wasn't sure how to approach the situation. She, too, was pretty surprised with what she walked in on. Mark wasn't like this when she left this morning to pick up the kids and she wasn't sure how to react. She did keep thinking about Callie though. Her wife seeing her best friend like this was going to be devastating considering when she left him early he was able to move his hand, but now his organs were slowly stopping one by one and it was scary to watch as it is going really fast.

Derek walks up to Timothy and bends down to his level. Timothy is still looking around at everything as Derek approaches him. "That machine right there is helping your dad breathe." Derek explains as he points to the big machine that's right on the side of Mark.

Timothy looks at his dad and places his hand on top of Mark's chest to feel his heart. Arizona and Lexie had to turn away at this because it was breaking their heart to watch. "He's not breathing?" Timothy asks.

Derek nods his head. "Yeah, he's breathing, buddy, but this machine is just helping him breathe better."

"Oh." Timothy says as he studies his dad face. "He doesn't look the same."

"I know, buddy." Arizona says to her son. "But that's because of the medicine he has been taking. He's still your dad. I promise."

Timothy looks away from his mom and back to his dad. "I'm going to take care of everyone. I promise." He tells him.

At that point there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Derek couldn't even control his emotions, so he had to turn and walk away from Timothy. Lexie could tell that Mark was listening, though. She could see his eyes moving, even though they weren't open, he was there. He heard his son and she could just picture Mark pounding his fist with Timothy's and she couldn't but smile at that thought. 

_You won't even know I'm  
>Gone.<em>

Arizona walks downstairs with Derek behind her. She sees the group and her wife gathered in the living room together. She looks around and notices that Sofia isn't around.

"Hey, where's Sofia?" She asks them.

"She's outside with Rocco." Callie tells her wife. She could see the concern lingering in her wife's eyes. "She wasn't ready yet." Arizona nods her head understanding. "Where's Tim?" Callie asks when she notices her son isn't with them.

"He, um, he wanted to spend some more time with Mark. To talk to him." Arizona tells her.

Callie could see the heartbreak between Derek and Arizona and something was definitely not right. "What's going on?"

Arizona looks away letting Derek know that she couldn't explain it to her wife yet. Derek knew that it was hard for all of them, and it was hard for him, too, but his best friend needed his family and they needed to know what was going on before they just walked in on it like Arizona and Timothy did. "Callie, things have got worse with Mark." Derek tells her.

"What do you mean?"

"Mark's organs are slowly shutting down. He has to have a machine to help him breathe and he can't talk or move much anymore." Derek explains.

Callie looks over at her wife, who is looking away. She was so confused. "But he was doing fine when we left. He was moving and looking at us."

"Not anymore, Callie. I'm sorry. I'm pretty sure things will get worse before the end of the night. So I just want to warn everyone what you will be walking into so that you're not surprised when you see him. It's not pretty."

Callie puts her hand on her head. She couldn't take all these surprises anymore. Callie was so frustrated with Mark, with Mark! She was frustrated with her almost dead best friend. Who does that? "Sofia needs to see her dad." Arizona say as she walks to the back door to watch her daughter, who was sitting contently with Rocco on her lap as she stared out into the lake that Lexie had Mark put in a few years ago. But before anyone could answer Arizona, she was already opening the door and walking out to the backyard.

Meredith turns to her husband. "How's Lexie doing up there?" She asks, worried about her sister.

Derek shakes his head, sadly. "She's a mess." He says, honestly.

They all knew this was going to be a long road to recovery for everyone when Mark was gone. He has always been the string that kept everyone together. Him and those kids. Mark had changed everyone's lives and without him, they were unsure how their lives were going to move on.

In the backyard, Arizona walks over to her daughter who is sitting on the ground still with Rocco on her lap. She sits down next to Sofia and gives her daughter a small smile.

"I was always jealous of this lake your dad put in. Who knew he had the talent?" Arizona jokes.

Sofia chuckles. "Yeah. We kept telling him he was going to end up with just a big mud hole, but he proved us all wrong. Lexie loves this lake."

"Yeah, I love it, too. Your mom was so scared that you and your brother would end up drowning in it. I told her that your dad wouldn't have put it up if he didn't think it was safe, but he also made sure that you and your brother knew how to swim."

"We spent hours in the lake with Dad. Timothy was so scared, but it turned out he is a pretty good swimmer after all."

"I was pretty surprised myself." Arizona laughs. "He must take after your Uncle Tim." They both sit there quietly for awhile. Arizona taking glances at her daughter who is just looking out into the lake. She kept trying to read Sofia, but for the first time ever it wasn't working. "Hey, Timothy has been talking to your dad for awhile now. I bet he'd want to hear you, too."

Sofia looks down as she remembers her dad was upstairs dying. "No." She says. "Timothy needs to spend some time with him by himself for awhile."

Arizona gives up and rubs her daughter's back gently. "Alright then." 

_Tell my brothers  
>to be brothers.<br>To forgive me  
>and eachother.<em>

Lexie and Timothy finally come downstairs after an hour. Timothy was feeling pretty confident right now. He was going to do what his dad wanted him to do and he was going to do it proudly. Timothy needed his dad to be proud of him. He also knew that his dad was going to be watching him all the time so he wanted to do it perfectly, like how his dad would. They all look over when they notice the two.

"Hey, Derek. Do you mind going back up there. I don't want Mark to be alone. And I need to talk to Callie and my sister." Lexie tells her brother-in-law.

"Of course." Derek kisses Meredith on her cheek before climbing the stairs to be with his best friend.

Callie and Meredith both look curiously at Lexie. "What's going on, Lex?" Meredith asks.

"I have to show you something." Lexie walks to the bathroom downstairs and Callie and Meredith quickly follow her.

"Lexie, what..." Callie stops when Lexie turns around with a pregnancy test in her hands. "the hell?"

"I took a bunch of them and they are all coming out positive. I'm pregnant. Mark's dying. I can't be pregnant when Mark's dying. I can't do this alone." She says in a hysteric ramble.

"Lexie." Meredith walks over and looks at the test in Lexie's hands. "We can do this." She tells her sister. "We will help you."

"Yeah, Lexie. We can do this all together. Does Mark know?" Callie asks. Lexie just shakes her head no as she begins to cry. They both quickly put their arms around her. "It's okay. We can all help you."

Upstairs, Derek is sitting back in his spot next to Mark. He is looking at his childhood friend with sadness and regret.

"I am so sorry, Mark. I'm sorry for the things I've said to you in the past. I know that we had moved passed it all, but I just need you to know again that I am sorry for everything. We have been best friends since were little kids and that will continue forever. I promise you that. Your kids will be in good hands. I will make sure they know all about the great things their father has done, and the not so great things." He laughs. "Just to make sure Timothy doesn't follow in his father's footsteps when it comes to those things. But just know that they will always know that you love them. I will never let them forget about you. And Lexie, well, she'll be okay. Eventually. It'll be hard at first for her, but she will learn to move on. Meredith and I will help her. I have never seen so much love in someone's eyes until I look at Lexie. When she looks at you her demeanor just melts. You've had a great life so far, Mark, and I can't wait to see you again because I bet you will have the after life bending to their knees when they see you, too."

Derek wanted to say a lot more to his friend, but he knew that everything he would say Mark already knew. He loved his best friend more than words could put together and he was going to prove that by taking care of his family. Mark's finger moves around Derek's hand. Derek wasn't sure if it was just a twitch or if Mark really was trying to hold his hand. Either way he was going to take it and be happy about it.

Downstairs, Cristina and Owen walk in the door where everyone except for Sofia is sitting around in the living room.

"What's happening?" Owen asks them.

Callie shakes her head. "Not good." She tells them. It was getting darker outside and Mark was still managing to hold on.

"Where's little Torres?" Cristina asks as she looks around for Sofia.

"She's outside." Arizona tells her. "She's been outside for several hours now."

"Has she seen him yet?" Owen asks.

"No." Callie says.

"I'll go talk to her." Cristina walks passed them all and goes out the backyard to find her god-daughter.

Owen walks over and sits down next to Arizona, who has Timothy laying down on her lap. He looks up at his uncle. "My dad's dying, Uncle Owen."

Owen looks around the room, surprised at the young boy's bluntness about his father. But he wasn't going to lie to the boy, either. "I know, buddy." He says, simply, as he pats him on the head. Timothy just sighs and falls back onto Arizona, who kisses him gently on the top of his head. 

_You won't even know I'm  
>Gone.<em>

In the backyard, Sofia had moved to the back porch since it was getting darker. Rocco had fallen asleep at her feet. She wanted to go in and be with her family, be with her dad, but she couldn't move back passed those double doors. It was too hard the more she thought about it. Sofia turns her head when she sees her Aunt Cristina walking her way.

"Hey, kid." Cristina says as she sits down next to Sofia.

"Hey."

"Why are you in there with the rest of them?"

"It's too sad." Sofia tells her.

"Yeah, that's why I came out here, but it seems even sadder here." Cristina tells her.

Sofia looks away. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Cristina says with a shrug.

"My dad is dying." Sofia tells her, but she knew her aunt already knew that. "And there's nothing anyone can do about it. Everyone is doctors in there, including my dad, and all they can do is stand around and wait for him to die. It sucks."

"It does suck. Cancer sucks a lot. You know, when I was your age, maybe a little bit younger, I watched my father die." Sofia looks at Cristina, stunned. "Yeah. I never talk about it. But that is the reason I became a doctor so that I can help people live, so it sucks when I watch people like your father who can't live. But I will tell you one thing that I was happy about."

"What?"

"I was happy that I was there with my father when he took his last breath. I was holding his hand and I was the last one he seen before he finally left me for good. It wasn't pleasant, but I'm glad I did it. That's one thing I would not want hanging over my head for the rest of my life."

"Thanks, Aunt Cristina, you always know what to say." Sofia says sarcastically as she smirks at her Aunt.

Cristina looks back at her and smiles. "Yeah, well, if it gets you in there then I'll do anything."

"I just don't want to remember him like this. Laying in bed, not being able to move or anything." Sofia tells her. "The last words he said to me was 'I love you, Sof, and have a great day at school.' I want to keep hearing that, but I can't. It's not fair."

"Hey, it's okay to be angry." Cristina assures her. "But let's try to be angry after you see him. You don't want to be angry while he is still alive because, Sofia, he's still alive. He's alive up there and he's waiting for you. He is holding on for reason."

Sofia just looks at her aunt who is staring hard at her. Sofia knew she was right. She was always right. She was the only one who was honest enough to tell her the truth. Cristina never treated her like she was a baby and couldn't handle things. She always told Sofia what she thought and that was all Sofia needed to keep going. 

_Tell my sister  
>take it easy.<br>Life will never be  
>this easy.<br>She won't even know I'm  
>Gone.<em>

Upstairs Lexie is sitting with Mark again, by herself this time, and she holding his hand as her tears fall slowly down her face. She loved this man with all her heart. She fought hard to get him back. To finally spend the rest of her life with him, but now his life was ending as her life continued on. Lexie did not want Mark to leave them without knowing that he was going to have another kid. He kept telling her to go to the doctor because she was sick everyday. Lexie wondered if somehow he knew before she did that she was pregnant. Mark was weird that way.

"Hey, babe. I just wanted to tell you that I am going to miss you like crazy. You are my life. My world. My everything. You're mine, and I'm your's. Forever and always. I promise you. I know you want me to move on, and I will try my hardest to for you, but I don't think I will ever find someone as great as you were to me. Never. And I don't want to. You are a wonderful father to those beautiful kids down there. You are their hero and I will make sure they are reminded everyday that you are watching over them. And I will also make sure that this little one.." Lexie grabs her stomach with a big smile. "..will know how great his or her father was. I know Sofia and Timothy will tell it wondeful stories about what you have done for them. I will make sure they never forget their dad and I will never forget you either. I love you so much." Lexie cries as she kisses Mark on his dry lips. She could see Mark's eyes fluttering back and forth through his eyelids and she couldn't help but laugh because she knew Mark was just as excited to be a dad again as she was to be a mom.

An hour later Lexie had went lay down in the extra bedroom to get some sleep. She didn't want to but Callie and Arizona forced her to do it because it wasn't healthy for the baby for her to stressed like she was. So Callie took this opportunity to have a moment with her best friend. She was nervous to see Mark in the condition he was in, but she knew she had to. She had to tell Mark that it was okay to go. To tell him how she feels about him. How she's always felt about him. So Callie walks into the room and suddenly felt why her daughter didn't want to go in just yet. She was questioning herself at this moment, too. But she walked through and sat down on Mark's bed. She looked at her friend, laying there, unable to move, unable to talk, unable to say dirty jokes to her like usual. Callie was going to miss those little moments she had with him.

Callie takes his hand, gently, and kisses it softly with her lips. "Have I told you lately how happy you have made me these passed almost twenty years. Wow. It's been a long time. And you don't look a day over 30." She jokes. "But no seriously. I just want to thank you for giving me those two beautiful kids out there. One that looks like me and one that looks amazingly like you and Arizona. Timothy's bright blue eyes and blonde hair will break some hearts one day, just like his dad did. Oh, and our spunky, sarcastic Sofia. She will break some hearts, too, and maybe even a few faces. Psh, they are going to wish they had Mark Sloan around to fix that, too. You are an amazing father, Mark. Those kids are lucky to call you Dad, and your new little one will be lucky to have a part of you. But don't worry, we will tell it everything about you. I will not leave anything out." Callie laughs. "Okay, maybe a few parts. You have been the greatest friend any girl could ask for and I'm happy to be the only girl who has known you to be that. Now, I don't want you to worry about anything. I don't want you to be worried about Lexie or the kids. I will take care of everything. You probably think that I will need the caring for, but I'm tough, Sloan, and I think you know that. Our family is in great hands. No worries on the other end, okay?" Callie bends down and kisses Mark gently on his cheek. "I love you." 

_Tell my mother  
>she can hug me.<br>I still love her  
>when she bugs me.<br>She won't even know I'm  
>Gone.<em>

Downstairs, Sofia walks in with Cristina behind her. Everyone looks at her except for Timothy, who had fallen asleep on his father's favorite chair. Sofia looks at her mommy as Arizona stands up, staring back at her daughter.

"I want to see my dad." She tells her.

"Okay. Come on." Arizona puts out her hand and Sofia walks over and takes it. Before they walk away Arizona turns to Cristina and mouths a thank you and Cristina gives her a small smile and a quick nod before they turn away and head upstairs.

Before they go into the room Arizona stops Sofia at the door. "I just want to tell that what you are about to walk into is not what you are usually used to." Arizona tells her. "But he is still your dad and he is still there. Okay?"

Sofia takes a deep breath and nods her head. Arizona opens the door to find Callie sitting there on the side of Mark's bed just staring at him. She turns around when she hear the door creek and watches as her daughter finally walks in to see her dad for the first time that day. "Hey, baby." Callie says as she gets up and kisses Sofia on her cheek.

"Hey, Mom."

"He's been waiting for you." Callie walks over to Arizona and they walk outside the door listening in on their daughter and her father.

Sofia was a bit overwelmed by all the machines that were surrounding her and that were attached to her dad. She'd never seen him like this. She just seen his patients like this, but she never imagined her dad would be like this. Sofia decided to ignore and focus on her dad. When she looked at him, he was pale. Mark's eyes were closed and he wasn't moving except for his chest, but that was only because of the breathing machine. Sofia sits down next to him on the bed and takes her dad's hand and with the other she puts her hand on his chest, like her brother did, and then she touches his face. He was cold. "Hey, Daddy." Sofia finally manages to let out. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here." Sofia wasn't sure what else to say to her dad. She had spent hours outside working up for this moment and now she couldn't think of a word to say to him.

Callie and Arizona stood outside, hand in hand, as they listened to their daughter. She wasn't saying much, but she wasn't saying a lot either and that felt like so much more.

"I'm sorry that this is happening to you." Sofia tells him. "I wish that my doctors could get rid of this, but they can't. I'm going to miss you so much." Sofia says as she starts to cry. "It's okay to go. I'll take care of them." She bends down and kisses her dad on his forehead. 

_Tell my father  
>don't feel guilty.<br>And to follow his heart  
>for me.<br>He won't even know I'm  
>Gone.<em>

It had been hours since Sofia's breakdown with her father. Everyone was now gathered in the rooms. Timothy sitting on Callie's lap on the floor, with Sofia sitting in between both her moms. Derek and Meredith watching from the corner, Cristina and Owen hanging out by the doorway, and Alex, Avery, April, and Teddy are standing together near the hallway to give the family their time with them, and Lexie is sitting right next to Mark, holding his hand. All they could do was wait now. Wait for Mark to take his last final breath. "It's okay, Mark. It's okay to go." Lexie whispers to her husband. They all surprised that at that moment the Mark's breathing became less and the beeping from the machine started to stall, loudly. Derek quickly walks over and turns it off. Sofia puts her hand into Arizona's chest and cries hysterically as her mom holds her. Callie began to cry, too, so Timothy turns around in her lap and wraps his small arms around her neck. Lexie's head fell into Mark's hand as she cried lightly for his husband, for her unborn child, for his children, and his friends. 

_You won't even know I'm  
>Gone.<em>

**R.I.P. Uncle Manuel 10/22/1967-01/12/2008**


End file.
